Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(left) BrianGarrahan's tri p to Oklahoma was worthwhile; he'll ride on the U.S. Junior Team . (Below) NatIonal Reliability Enduro Champion Rodney Smith will head the Trophy Squad's effort. (Right) Guy Cooper (left) and Vincent Davis chat. Part of the camp was held on Cooper's land . "Usually when we're together, under normal conditions, we're trying to race against one another. With this camp it's di fferent; we've reall y broken the ice. Here it d idn't take long for us to begin w o r kin g together and start, sharing information about our d ifferent rid ing techni ques." Jeff Russell said, "The training camp has brough t us closer together than I've ever seen. I've ridden five othe r ISDEs ' and this is the closest team effo rt I've ' ever seen." "I know some of these guys h ave problems d uring the year but everybody here seems to have put those person al diffe re nces asid e," added H a w ki n s. "We're all workin g together and striving for a World Trophy title." ISDE veteran Kevin Hines concurred, "We've got some real rivalries here and it's nice to seeeverybody put that aside. I've been real focused on winning the enduro series this year and so has Steve (Hatch), and here we are both being considered for the Trophy Team." The training camp also proved valuable to ISDE newcomers. ISDE rookie and AA Black Jack Enduro Series rider Vincent Davis sa id, "Up to this year I hadn't even ridden the Reliability Series before. It's been a real learning year for me, considering I didn't kn ow m uch about the sport when the season started in Arkansas. I ended up with a class win there and have really been concentrating on learning the rules ever since. It's kind of nea t to have my na me on the same list as these other top riders, but I still have to keep things in perspective. My view is that I'm in good company and from this point on it's Tea m Enduro USA." Sco tt Su mmers, who las t rode Six Days in '89, th ought th e camp was a good refreshe r course. "For somebod y like me who hasn't concentrated on the ISDE thing for a couple of years, th is whole camp idea is kind of nice to get used to changing tires and pr acticing all of the things associated with Six Days." he said. Most of the riders wer e fairly op timistic about the U.S. team 's chances of wi nning so me type of World Championship. Hawkins said, "I think our confidence level is up and that's something we haven't had in the pas t. Our riding ability has always been up there with the Europeans; it' s just that we haven't had the confid ence to wi n in Eu rope. This year world-class rider David e Trolli tried corning to America to win and had problems competing on our turf; so having the Europeans here for the Six Days is a big confidence booster." National Reliability Enduro Champion Rodney Smith said, "When I rode Australia I was just trying to finish, and focused on my own efforts. I came away Top Ame rican and almost won the overall. Last year we got into trouble in Holla nd on Da y One and it really took a team effort to get the remaining riders to finish. We took more of a "team player" attitude and tha t held us back from any chance at a World Championship. This year, because there are so many Americans, we can ride our own race and t ha t's what w ins World Championships." Bertr am said, "This is the one race where everybody starts pulling for the other guy. This is the Olympics of mo torcycling and this year we're going to have the best 10 riders representing the United States." c:x .1984 U.S.'ISDE teinns 'nam ed . , ,Just before this issue went to press(Septem, ber 6): the 'A finally' announced the riders IM ' who will represent the U.S. onthe World Tro-: , phy and JUniorWorld Trophy teams at Tulsa. ~, :They aieas fo!lows: ,'" ' :..- ,', -: ." : U.s;W~'~d T~tiY T~~''' ' :: ' Randy HaWkins - SuzUkiRM12 5 ,GuY Cooper - Suzuki RMx2s0 ' Rodney Smith" SuzukiRMX250 " ,, "Ty DaVis - Kawasaki KX250 " , ,Jeff Russell - KTM ElXC 350 (four-stroke) , Scott Suriiineis :-,Honda . . ,.- (four-stroke) . . : ., XR600 - . . ' . .U,S: JuniorTrophy Team Danny Harriel - Kawasaki KX250 Chris Srriith -Honda CR125 ,' Brian Garrahan ; HondaCR250 Vincent DaVis ~ Honda XR280 " . .,. ,' ,U.S. T!J!!lhY & Junior Weidd Team manager , Dave Bertiam . ': , U,S. Team SuPPOrt Manager " Rick 'GunnY: C Iaypoole " " . ' y looking at the current N~tional Enduro Series point standings, one would get the idea that Suzuki's Steve Hatch (right) was having a good year. After winning the opening round of that series, Hatch has held the lead in the point standings ever since. And since Hatch is in contention for the U.S. Trophy Team, you would logically think Hatch must be having a stellar year. Well . . . not exactly. Not when it comes to ~g for this year's ISDEat Tulsa, at least. "Since the Alligator Enduro I've been to the hospital seven times:', Hatch said "Let's see, I've ' severely spririned my ankle, broketwo different fingers, broke my left foot, hyper-extendedmy thumb and now this - luckily it's only affected the Qualifier series" What "this" was Ha tch talking about? "Dri- , ving down here (to the training camp) after the GNCC ~ Ohio, I -:vas .lea~g the way in my pickup with Dale (Stegal) and Randy (Hawkins) followm g In their box van. We had just gone through Springfield, Missouri, when we met a brush hog mowing the road ditch. The mower was in the opposite road ditch mowing away from traffic," Hatch said . "Unfortunately, I had just rolled the window down about halfway when the mower picked up a piece of recap tire. I d idn't even see it coming. The thing hit me so hard that all I felt was a blow to the left side of my head. It sounded like a sho tgun had gone off in my face. "Immediately, that whole side of my face went numband I started to black out. I somehow got the truck stopped on the side of the road before passing ou,t. ~e next thing I remember was Dale and 'Rand y standing ove~ me. The conCUSSIOn was severe enough that when I came to, I couldn't see anYthfug out of my left ex!!. Eventuall y, Dale and Randy got me to a hospi tal where I had a couple pieces of steel belting removed from the side of my head. They did a CAT scan and checked fur skull fractures. That all checked out okay. Then I saw an eye specialist and they determined that the retina was traumatized to the point that som e red blood cells had burst and that's what caused the loss of vision. They gave me some eye drops and my vision is improving every day. It sounds like I'll be read y to ride in about two weeks. "I've had a motto all year that there is no mountain high eno ugh to stop me from reaching my goals . This is just like litera lly taking it on ~e chin. Bu! r~ still planning on riding the Six Days before the end ur o schedule picks up agam In October. I guess when it rains it pours." : . Also recovering from injuries during the camp was Junior T~am can~ld ~te DaVId Lykke. The \Vashington state resident suffered a deep contusion on his nght fore;mn during a Ii\o tocross race las.t .~eek. ''I'm healing up just,fine. It's j~t that I'm not strong enough to ride this w~end . The doctors S

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