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the tight confines of the Foxboro Sta te
Forest. The first s urprise was Pepper,
who redeemed some personal pride
and actually recorded the fastest time
through the tigh t pi ne forest se ction
with a 5:45 at check 10. The next fastest
was H ines, who crashed heavily after
hitting a tree while trying to pass another rider and missed m atch in g the
Moose Racing star's score by a scant
three seconds.
Hatch rolled in with a 6:55 despite
being handicapped by his inoperative
clutch, for which he had to compensate
by us ing some agg ressive riding skills ,
which cost him in the unforgiving rocky
terrain.
"In that security section on th e second loop, I clipped a rock which thr ew
th e back end o f th e bike arou nd in a
hurry and th rew me on the ground,"
Ha tch said. " It sort o f s cared m e
becaus e I caught my head on the one
sid e of the tr ee, sna pped and scraped
m y neck up p re tty good. The force of
th e im pact s p u n m e a n d the b ik e
around like a top. "
Fairfax w ould , once ag ain , put his
name ahead of a couple of notew orthy
competitors, earning a 7:08 at the flag s
ahead of Russell, who posted an 8:02
and had been s howi ng flashes of brilliance throughout the day whil e
attempting to overcome problems with
his rear brake. Hawkins posted an 8:14
and Michael Lafferty an 8:48.
The area known locally as "Mo on
Crater," which included the typical single-track as 'well as some pretty h ighspeed two-track trail awaited the wa ry
competitors next . H ines, once again ,
propelled his CRE Honda through the
section to cla im th e low- score honors
over the re st of the contenders w ith a
three-point tally, besting Pep per, Hatch
and Hawkins - a ll of whom had
dropped four points.
Hines carried the lead an d momen tum into the final 2o-mile loop, hold ing
a hefty sev en-point advantage over his
closest competitor, Hatch . A d ogfight
was also beginning to d evelop for th e
last spot on the ro strum , as both
Hawkins and Michael Lafferty carried
30s on their scorecards.
After a brief 1o-minute layover at the
second and final gas stop, Ha tch had
nothing to lose and a healthy bike at his
disposal after his pit crew repaired his
Suzuki's clutch. He attacked the final
section of the da y with a vengeance.
At the final timed check midw a y
th rough th e for est , it would be H ines
showing the wa y, but by onl y one second, as Hatch was r id ing like a man
possessed and nearly matched the CRE
rider' s sc o re of 5:02 a t the flag s .
(Above) Defending National Champion
Randy Hawkins finished third. (Right)
Colorado's KelbyPeppe r was In the hunt
ell day and ended up fourth overall.
Hawkins and Pepp er were the next
fastest pair through the treacherous and
strength-sapping section, record ing 5:25
and 5:35 scores, resp ectively.
The warning signs of possible trouble for Lafferty began to show at the
same check, as he dropped to an 8:33,
which gave Hawkins some space to
work with, while Pepper loomed in
fourth.
Th e las t eight-mile jaunt, which
would eve ntually point the riders to the
final check of the d ay, saw Hines and
Ha tch drop only two points each. Right
beh ind the two front-runners, Hawkins
chec ked in w ith a four , as did Pepper.
Laffer ty wou ld n't have the luck of his
competitors, as he suffered the effects of
heat exhaustion and dehydration on ly
three miles from the finish, putting an
end to what was otherw ise a great rid e.
Hines, on the other hand, clai med
the day's overall hon ors with a final
score of 27, se ven poin ts better than
Ha tch. Hawkins wou ld narrowly clinch
th e th ird position with a score of 39
over Pepper , who finished one point
behind with 40.
"I came in very confid en t with the
b ike," Hines sa id . "This pa rticular
machine is definitely the reason for my,
I guess you can call it, rejuvena tion this
year. It's very good and inspires confidence in my own rid ing abilities as well
a s making r id ing fu n again for me.
Other than a coup le of falls because of
p roblems wi th tra ffic out there, my d ay
went basically like I planned it. I maintained my ad vantage into the final loop
by jus t riding cautiously, which meant
kee ping a good pace and not doing anyth ing s t u pi d that could damage my
bike, or myself for that matter."
£x
King Philip National
Wentham, Massachusetts
Results: June 5, 1994
OIA: I. Kevin Hines (eRE) v ; 2- Steve Hatch (s uz)
34; 3. Randy Hawkins (Suz) 39; 4. Kelby Pepper (!