Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Lelt) Despite having "retired" . from competition in 1991, offroad vetera n Kevin Brown obviously has n't lost his speed, as he finished third overall. (Far lelt) Five-time National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins expe rienced elect rica l prob lems throughout the two days but stiliwon the 125cc class. Here, Hawkins finishes a grass track special test. (Below) Guy Cooper won the Heavyweight Four-Stroke class on a Suzu ki DR350S dual sport bike. Smith, who sai d , "Yesterday we had to ride in mostl y vi rgi n terrain and blaze new t ra il. Someti mes th a t makes it toug h for us 125cc 'rid e rs up fr ont. Altho ugh it 's p robab ly safer for u s because it d oes keep our trail speeds down a little. We don't seem to cra sh as much." Smith's times were good enough to land him third p lace overall after day one, but Ha w kins' d ay ,tw o class-winning cha rge put Smith back 18 seco nds . Fi nishing fift h overall was Ohio' s Kevin Bro w n . Riding in the 0-125cc class, the 34-year-old rider put together a co n s is t e n t ride aboard hi s KX125 Kawasaki. "O ther than brake problems (on Su nday), my two days went pretty much flawles s," said Brow n. "1 really have to thank Tea m Green, Jeff Fredette and Dal e Stega l (Hawkins' tuner) fo r th eir help with brake pads. My ro tors are worn rea l bad and I needed a fresh set of brake pads before each test today. Those guys really came through for me." Br o w n ' s ride in Ohio was a rare appearance by the off-road veteran . •After competing in five Six Days and the GNCC series, I go t real bu rned-out and quit riding com p eti tively in '91," sai d Brown. "I just wasn' t ha v ing fun any mo re . This a n d th e Wellston (Na tio nal) Enduro are really the only two times I've been in the woods this year." Taking sixth place overall honors and first in the Heavyweight Four-Stroke class was Suzuki's Guy Cooper. Rid ing a Suzuki electric sta rt DR350S du al sport . bike wit h a 435 k it, th e former motocr oss grea t wo n a ll n in e of h is classes special tests. "I really had a good two-day ride, co nsidering I was on a play bike. The decision to ride a fourstroke was really only made up when . we got here. I've got a rea l busy GNCC sch e d u le coming up and I have my RMX's setup for those races. I just didn't wan t to abuse them here with a bu sy schedule ahead of us . "After the rain (on Sunday), when it got real ugly ou t ther e," said Cooper, "it tu rned into a survival race. Th er e was no othe r way to go than with an electricsta rt four-stroke. The few times I stalled the bike or tipped over during a test I would just touch the button and be off before I lost any momentum: ' The only rider in Cooper's class was Italian Davide Trolli ri d ing a Honda .XR600. TroIli was knocked out of contention when he lost 20 late- start penalty points when his bike refu sed to fire right away. He later had more problems w hile trying to start his machine after stalling the engine in a special test. Trolli blamed bad gas for his troubles. Al so riding a dual sport bike was Suzuki Dual Sport coordinator Mark Hyde who competed in and won the Lightweight Four-Stroke class and finished 10th overall. Hyde won eight of his class's special tests aboard a basically stock electric start DR35OS. " I really had big fun out there. Gu y and I decided at th e las t minute to ride the dual sport bikes. Mostly just for the grin. And the way it turned out was okay. The best part was the electric start." Oi McArthur Two-Day Qualifier McArthur, Ohio Results: May27·28 (Alter 2015 rounds) 115, I. Randy H aw kins

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