(Left) Matt
Lyman was
the topfinishing
Is lander. He
led most of
the event
until the last
special test
section ,
ending up
second.
(Below) Phil
Oveland
endured a
severe gash
to his right
hand to finish
fifth overall
on a Husky
four-stroke.
(Right) Last
year's winner
Steven
Trinies ended
up sixth.
sh ea red o ff th e p ivot bol t for the rear
brake pedal on the eRE 250 loaned to
him by Tim Wither s, rend ering it useless . So, he coped as best he could and
tried fixing it at the lunch stop, at various times on the cou rse and during the
hour work period before impounding a t
the en d of the d ay .
Lyman led the field at t he e nd of
those first 105 miles w ith 23, foll owed
by Hines' 32, d efendin g champ Steven
Trinies' 37, Oveland 's 41 (am azing considerin g he fell about 15 miles out and
sliced his throttle hand open enough to
require lots of stitches) and Randt's 47.
A light overnight rain made the ride
around Mauna Kea dust-free and incredible fu n for those fortuna te enough to
s ti11 be running . "N o w th at was fun"
more tha n one co m petitor exclaimed .
Soo n, however , it was back to the lava
fields (w hich ar e incred ibl y diffi cult to
ride; the bike a lw ays wants to d o the
hula) before reaching da y two' s lunch.
Hines and Oveland carried scores of on e
Mauna Kea 200
Hila , Hawaii
Result: M 27-28
ay
0 1k 1. Kevin Hines (CREl 43 points; 2. M.>. Lyman
(Kaw).
O PEN 8: 1. Scott Molin aro (KTMJ; 2. BiD Hughes
(KTM); 3, Wesley Arakaki IHon).
TEAMS A: 1. Dome nico's '1 ( H i n ~/Ov el a n d/
RandU 211.
TEAMS B: I. Hull M aka Flippa 2 (Mitch . UI Aaron
Mu th / Wurlitzer ) 399; 2. Kaua i Westside (Richard O.
Kinnaman/ AI Stiglmeier / Bill Hugh es) 402.
(Left) The winning team, sh own here, was
made up of Hines, Oveland and Randt.
Brief·IV.. ..
~
throu gh che ck fi v e, whil e Lym an ,
Trinies, Rand t and Oru Brenneman had
threes. "I figured 1 had n ine poin ts on
Kevin, " Lyman said . "I was jus t trying to
pick up (thos e) nine poin ts toda y."
.Po ll owing anoth er we ll -stocked
lunch, rid er s attacked the final section,
which in cluded th e day' s special test.
Fo r most , however, th e final sec tion
a t tac ke d th em , a fact refl ected in the
c h eck scor es . "T he la st 10 m il es I
thought th ey'd gi ve u s so me kind o f
break, bu t th ey d idn' t," Lyman sa id
with a lau gh .
Ind eed , his check scores of thr ee, five,
12 the n 16 gra phicall y demonstrated the
s e v e ri ty of the section . In co n t ra s t ,
Hines' physical cond ition showed as he
we nt one, zero, four, five. Hines dominat ed the test wi th his 7:21, well in front
of the 8:13 by Trinies . Randt turned in
an 8:20 followed by Jade Leitner's 8:33
and Lyman's 8:38. Hines' su pe rior afternoon erased his poin ts deficit to Lyman
an d wrapped up th e wi n . "I was co ncerned wi th (Lyman's d ay one lead),"
Hines admitted . "I was jus t hoping it' d
be tough eno ugh today to make it back
up . In th e m ornin g afte r we wen t
a ro u n d the volca no, I sa id , ' Oh no :
Then I looked at the sp eed average, and
it said 12 mph in the afte rnoon, an d I
didn't think we' d ever drop enough
points to make it up.
"I gu ess progressively I made it up
because it was check after check. That
was the only reason I could ma ke up the
time," said Hines . "Yes terd ay, I had a
bad da y. It wasn't just the brake bu t get tin g lost, running ou t of gas. Yesterday
should've been three or four points, conceiva bly."
Even w ith his less-t han-ideal ride,
though, Hines had his third Mauna Kea
win in three tries (he won in 1992 and
'93). "It's one of the nea test races in the
wo rld for diversity," he said .
"I expected it to be all jungle, " Rand t
said whe n giving his im pressions of the
eve nt. "I didn' t expec t any of the lava
flows or an y of the d esert-type stuff. The
ju ng le sectio ns tha t we rod e is what I
th ough t it ' d all b e. That was good , it
was rea l good .
"But it was a very interes tin g eve nt diffe re nt rul es a n d e ve ry t h i ng
involved ," added Randt. "There's nothing wi th the variety of terrain in such a
sma ll area (to compare it to) that you 'd
go from desert to mou ntains to jungle to
whatever. Nothing lik e the lava flows,
0"
though - nothing like them at all ."
.
,
Tracy , DIAntonio ran out of gas on his
: 83 ' KX250 at the 29-mile mark of 'the B ,
course on the first day: He quickly tired
of waiting for .tne sweep crew and tried ,
hiking:out of the jungle that makes 'up
the Ku la ni For e st. "The next thing I
know, I'm'wandering around aimles sly in
fhe woods talking to menehunes." Since
he couldn't find a way out, he ended up
spend ing'a rainy night underneath a little
s helter he fashioned 'out of ferns . Des;
pe rate for so me thing to eat or drink,
DiAntonio fina lly reso rted to sl urping
'water out. of puddles , 'a n easythlnq to
find since it rained all night. "' wouldn't
wis h tha t on any bod y !" he s a id, ' but
added ; "l'rn gonna be back (next year)
'
'with vengeance ."
a
'One' rider reportedly got so fed up that
he offered his Honda CR500R for $1500
at lunch the second da y. A spectator
came up with $1200 Ca~h. Sold. .
Three 'of the top five finishers ride trials
t or u rt h e r ho ne the ir skil ls : Hines ,
' Lyma n a nd Ovela nd . "I think (trials
practice) is ,helping me.know where to
put my' tre nt wheel," said Hine s . :If ·
there 's a (oat mass or so mething' or a
,tight corner, you'look where to put your
front wheel. Going.over logs and that is
so much.oltterent because you do n't
ca re if you put your fe e t down (on
.enduro bikes)." Lyman got a trials bike
after Gas Gas ' Andreu 'Codlna did a
floater wheelie ottthe front of his rental
van lit the ISDE last yea r.
'
31
