Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ENDURO A AN M ational C hampionship Enduro Series . Final Round: Delaware State Enduro • By Kit Palmer new In IS crowne BEAR, DE. ocr.30 or the second year in a row , the outcom e of the AMA National Enduro Ch ampi on ship was F • d ecid ed at th e final ro u nd of __~~ the se ries and, both times, one of those rid ers invo lved in the tight title chase was Team Suzuki's Steve Hatch. Last yea r, the duel involved himself and teammate Randy Hawkins, the veteran defendi ng ch am p. Wh en all w as sai d and d one, Hawkins had wrapped up his fifth title. At this year's 31st Annual Delaw ar e Sta te En d u ro th e s to ry line w as only slightly different, as series points leader (Left ) Steve Hatch chose to pull off his goggles du ring the first three. po intsrobbing checks. Dense fog in the mo rn ing hampered the rider's vis ion. Hatch went on to win the Delawar e State Enduro and with it the '94 National Enduro Champion ship . (Below left) Kevin Hines was the on ly rider wi thin striking di stance of Hatch go ing into the final roun d of the series. He came up short fin is hing second overall. (Below) A ve-ti me champ Rand y Hawkins will wear the number three plate next year; he finished fourt h in Delaware. "'d"' 0\ 0\ ..... -.D ..... l-< Q) S· Q) :> o Z 18 Hatch was aga in in th e heat of battle, but thi s tim e the sh owdown involved h im self and CRE ' s Kevin H in es, th e on ly rider who had a sho t of beating Hatch going into the final round. The scenario wa s sim ple: In order for Hines, the 1987 champ, to record his second ch ampion ship, he basicall y had to win and then pray that Hat ch finished no better than fourth. But Hatch effectively put an end to Hines' hopes ear ly in th e eve n t. At th e fir st ch eck, bot h Hines and Hatch mat ched sco res with a ' 1'; a ch eck later, Hat ch wen t '4' and Hi nes '5 ', g ivi ng Hatch a one-point advan tage. But w ha t rea lly drove the last nail int o the coffin took place at the th ird check. Hines, who w as riding on the row two minutes ahea d of his rival H at ch , checked in with a so lid ' 4' - a good score. But to h is dismay, Hines saw h is cha mpionship ho p es all but vanish when he loo ked over his shoulder just as he was leavin g the check and saw Ha tch brake- slid ing into the check. So , afte r only th ree checks into the e n d uro, H in es was now a seem ingly insurmountable th ree poi nts down. The rest of the d ay, Hines could d o ne better than to at lea st mat ch Hat ch ' s every mov e . The d am age was already d one and th e d ay an d season wou ld soon belong to Hatch. "Wit h Ke v in (Hines) two minu tes ahe ad ofme, m y goal was to tr y an d ca tch him all d ay," said H at ch of his wi nning stra tegy . "Winni ng the champions h ip feel s ou ts ta ndi ng . It ' s been an up-and -d own se as on. I felt lik e th ere was th is big mountain I was climbing and every time I got to the top, a g uy with a b ig steel boot would kick me and flip me back down. My dream (of w innin g th e Nation a l End uro title) is now a reality." H at ch en ded up d ropping 16 p oint s o n th e d ay wi th Hines finishing second with 19 o n h is tim ec ard . Loca l he ro M ike Laffe r ty, o n a Team G reen-backed Ka wasak i, put in an outsta ndi ng bu t not-inth e-Ieas t-bit-surpris in g ride, recording 20 points and finishing th ird overall, and wit h it, ea rning his second consecutive ECEA En d uro title . Both Hawkins an d KTM rider Matt St a v ish record ed 23s, b u t it was Hawkins comi ng out ah ead on the tie-b reakers, thu s finis hing fou rth overall. Ha tch n ow be com es the 12th di fferent rider to earn the titl e in w ha t is o ne of th e lon g est-ru nn in g a n d oldest A MA Na tio na l series, and gi ves Suzu ki its si xth enduro title in seven years. More than 400 rid ers turned ou t for the 31st running of the Delaware State Enduro, a n event that many in attendance said is traditionally the "...best enduro of the se ries," including Hawk in s. "Wha t better way to end and decide the season?" said Hawkins. "This has to b e one of, if not the best events of th e ye a r - th ere's a vari ety of terrain, it' s Well thought ou t and the club simply does an outstanding job: ' .

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