Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Daytona Beach,Florida prise finisher - 26-year-old North Carolinan Scott Miller. The Honda-Yamaha of Statesville ! Moose ! Scott- backe d rider shocked man y of the spo rt' s established stars by dropping only 15 points aboard his Yamaha YZ250. "It' s surprising, that' s for su re," said the stocky rider, wh o lost to Hatch on tie breakers. " I ran out of ga s twice out there, and my dad had to push me in both times. I've been riding this event for years, but this is the first time as an AA rider. I didn 't ex p ect to d o this well ." Mill er e njoye d a relatively clean _ event, as he didn't burn any checks and ac tually managed to stay fr ee of the mud bogs that claimed almost everyone else at one point of another. "I guess I just picked good lines," he said. "You had to go wid e open through them or you 'd get stuck. " Third went to Kevin Hines, the CRE importer and form er National Enduro Champion. Hines struggled with a poo rrunning machine, but still managed to break the top three with a 16-point total. "I think I got some bad gas or someth ing, " sai d Hines. "Th at oxyge na te d stuff is evil. The motor was detonating and pinging so bad , I was afraid that it was going to seize." Still,' Hines rod e well enough to end up third, beating ou t fourth and fifthplaced rid ers Mike Lafferty and Davis on tie breakers. Lafferty an d Davis both dropped 16 as well . "I got stuck pr etty bad in a mud hole this morning, " sai d Lafferty, a factory K1M ride r. 'The key to this event was picking you r wa y th rough th e bog s whoever did that best was going to be the winner . This was my first time at the Alligator, and I can tell you that it won 't be my last. I had a great time." Sixth went to three-time Alligato r By Donn Maeda Photos by Paul Buckley and Maeda DA¥rONA BEACH, FL MAR 8 , efore the start of the ann ual Daytona Dirt Riders Alligator Enduro, m an y dubbed defending event champion Randy Hawkins and off-roader -of -the -mo me n t Ty Da vis, p ot ential w inners, but when all was sai d and done it was Team Suzuki's Steve Hatch w ho emerged with the second "Gator" win of h is career. Whil e h is Su z u ki teammates Hawkins an d Rodney Smith fell b y th e waysi de with mechanical pr oblems, th e per sonable New Yorker p lugg ed alo ng and dropped only 15 points in the relatively d ry - for an Alligator Enduro, that is - event. "It wasn' t th at bad out th ere," sai d Hatch, 26. 'There were some mud holes ou t there, but it wasn't nearl y as bad as it has been in the past. When I wo n in '93, for instance, I dropped 44 points." Hatch's track reco rd at the popular eve n t is impressi ve - after wi nningin '93, he we n t on to finish second in '94, but didn't compe te last year because of a brutal case of the flu.This year marks Hatch' s second win in three tries. Hatch and his teammate Guy Cooper rod e on the same minute, and the pai r "teamed up" en route to a pair of wins Cooper registered the wi n in th e 250cc class with a score of 17. "Coope r and I rod e togeth er - it was a blast," said Hatch. "I told him before the start that I'd pay him $20 for every B (Abov e) Afte r miss ing last year's event, Steve Hatch retu rned to the Alligator Enduro to record his seco nd win In three years. (Right) Fred Andrews (3) and Kevin Hines ri de Int o the fi nish together. Hines finish ed third ov erall , losing out on the tie breakers to loc al rider Scott Mill er. Andrews fi nished third In the 250cc A class . mud hole that he helped me ou t of, and I got st uc k ri ght at the start. I guess I ow e him $20 . I burned one check becau se my mileag e wa s off, but other than that, it was a good event." Ha tch burned up his clutch on th e first loop, but his pit crew changed it at the first gas stop. But w ha t abo ut Davis? Though th e former Western Region al 125cc Supercross Ch ampion has been on a tear thus far in th e ' 96 seaso n, th e likable rid er continues to go winless at the Alligator. "I just can't see hanging it all ou t and tak in g big chances," said Davis, who has won almost every off road competition th at he has en te re d th is year and last year . "This isn't part of the National series, an d yo u d on 't want to get hurt out there in those trees ." . Davis was a distant fifth aboard his Kawasaki Team Green-b acked KX250. "I just like to come here and try to get in the top 10," said Davis. "It' s a good warmup and good practice for some of the eas tern events in the Nationals. Fifth is good ." Second in the event wen t to a sur- winner Joey H opkin s . The Kawasaki ri d er was also cons idere d a favo rite entering the event, but he d idn't ride up to his own expe ctations and ende d the day with 17. "I have no excuses," said the friendl y rider . "I jus t didn't rid e good enough to win today. It was a goo d race cou rse, but there were a few qu estionable sections that w eren' t ribbon ed off ver y well. That was the only bad part about it. I crashed right after the first gas stop and m y fr ont fe n de r go t pushed in betw een m y .forks an d w heel. I

• Cover