Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.E D R ... N U O..' ,A N MA ational E nduro Cham pionship series Round 3: Lone Star Enduro caught fire, costin g him precious minutes he co u ld no t rega in . N o t m ore than a couple miles into the first loop in Texas, ju s t as a spe ci al te st w a s beg inning, Hat ch was seen o n th e side of th e tr ail replacing a fouled plug. In Lo uisian a , one mi s fo rtune cos t competitors several positi ons, and Ha tch ended up 15th. The Texas round provided pl en ty of challen ges an d tests where racers could m ake up time. After finishing the first loop out of the top 10, Hatch was on the gas m aking up time in th e second, third and fourth loops, an d was able to move up to th ird overa ll by the finish . H atch w as th e only ri der who stayed d ose to the pace Davis set during the w ide-open final loop, which h ad more resemblance to a d esert race than an enduro. Onl y Hatch and Davis managed to re ach th e 15th check, near th e e n d of the final loop, four minutes behind sched ule. Th eir closest riva ls at that check wer e Hawkin s and Kawasaki's Kelb y Pepper, both losin g six minut es. All other AA rider s d rop ped seven or m ore min ut es. "Th at final section w as scary," said Haw kins . "I had to slow down. I'm not us ed to that w ide- open-t ype terrain." Mos t of the top riders who checked their computers for top speed found they had reached spee ds be tween 65 and 70 mph on the narrow, rutted and rocky trails. Haw kins gave up a couple of minutes to Davis and Hatch on the last loop, but d uring the first three loops he was bril- exas By Larry Toby Photos by Arnold Lane LUBIlOCK, TX, MAR. 31 awasaki Team Green's Tv Davis m ad e it three in a row as he rode to a co nvinci ng w in in roun d three of the AMA Na tio nal Endu ro Cha m p ionsh ip Series near Lubb ock, Texas. Davis' victory came on the heels of a victory with teammate Paul Krause just two days earlier at the SOD-mile Las Vegas-to-Reno race. "I rod e 300 miles as fast as I coul d go Friday," said Davis . "I flew here yesterday an d raced today. I'm tir ed , but wi nni ng today has m ade it a very nice weekend." Tigh t, twisty, rocky, thorny, steep canyons, a nd wide-open, narrow and rutted trails made the Lone Star Enduro the most challenging eve n t of the series thus far. As one rider put it, it was like having easte rn- a n d w estern -t yp e en duros on the same day, and a m otocross sectio n at the end gave the eve nt an ex tra twi s t. Davi s, who h ad dropped exactly 12 p oints during th e fir st two rou nds , dropped 30 at this even t alone. Runner -up Rand y Hawkins dropped 37, w hile th ird-place finisher Ste ve Ha tch lost 39. Ever gracious in victory and always complimentary to his com petitors, Davis still appears a bit surprised by his victo- K ..... :... 0..

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