Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127722
.E D R '. N U O··. A N n C MA atio al hampionsh ipEndu Series . ro Roun d3:C erokee National h GREENSBORO,G ,M A ft e r winning t e open ing two round s o f th e AMA National Championship Enduro Seri es in California and Arizona , the sea soned series veterans, mos t of whom reside in the eastern half of the U .S., really weren't all that worried about Kawasaki's Ty Davi s getting the holeshot in the series point stan dings. After all, the first two N ationa ls were held ou t West in "Davis co u n try." Da vis, w ho lives in Hesperia, California, in the heart of the "upper" desert, is certa inly fam iliar with the more w id e- open terrai n u su all y associated with end u ros held w est of the Mississ ippi. "Jus t wa it till we get h im in ou r neck of th e w ood s in the East," said many of the Na tional End u ro veterans as they happily wa ved "good riddance" to Califo rnia and Arizona. On e such rid er was five-ti me National Enduro Ch ampion Randy Haw kins, from Travelers Rest, Sou th Caro lina. He was perhaps the most anxious rid er of them all to ge t Davis back East for the Cherokee National Enduro in Geor gia. "I couldn't wait to get him (Davis) in the w oods, and co m pete in a tight race," said Hawkins. But things didn't go as planned for the Team Su zuki Off-Ro ad rid er Hawkins. Instead of a traditionally tight and woodsy Cherokee National enduro that he had come to expect, Hawkins, to his d isbelief, fou nd a course unusually wide-open and very California-ish, which better -suited Davis' more wideopen riding style. And when it wa s all over, Davi s had yet again prevailed. " I thought it was tight; not re a lly tight, or as tight as the Alig ator Enduro (in Florida) but tight enough to lose your rh ythm," sa id Da vis. "Overall, it seemed more like a Six Days with wideopen road sec tions that led to tight sections. But it was tighter than out there (California )." Tight or not, Davis an d Hawkins battl e d fer ocious ly throughout th e da y with both rid ers producing "6s" on their scorecards when all was said and done. But a quick check of the tie break ers had Davis comin g ou t on top by approxirnately 50 seconds . "It wasn't an easy da y for me by an y means," sai d Davis. "My odometer lead broke, I crashed a couple of times, hit a tree, made so me mistakes, but overa ll I thought it was a good enduro." Hawkins, on the other hand, wasn 't as impressed with the layout. " I was really disappointed in the race," said H awkins, who h a s in his career won this enduro twice. "I rod e as well as I possibly could ride in these co n dit ions, and Ty be a t' me fai r and square. He rode great and deserves to win; I have no excuses. But it wa s so disheartening to get him out here (in the East) and into the woods and have the event so wide open. I went all day and never, not once , did I hit my ha n d guards ona tree! It was such an open, fast race. I mean, I didn't eve n break a sweat. A Alter two consecutive victories out West, Ty Davis headed east to Georg ia and - surprisingly - won his third National Enduro in a row.