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/127783
.E D R ยท N U O. . ..AMAN ational Championship Enduro Series . Round 4: Little Raccoon Classic ~} J} quite well in West Virginia as a ma tter of fact wi th fell ow team rider Rodney Smith and H awkins taking th ird a nd fourth resp ectively. Blackwell also rode .there and finished up seventh. Prior to the enduro, Hatch comm ented on hi s readiness by sayi ng, "I feel good toda y. I just think of th is as a twoday ev ent with yes te r da y as da y one and today as day two. Yesterday ou r goal was to win and we did that so our goal tod ay is to do the best we can and hopefull y win. That w ould be a real Cinderella weekend for us." The I SO-mile even t utili zed som e pa ved roads, while criss-cro ssin g ov er the countrysid e throu gh just ab out every imagin abl e typ e of terrain. Th e course included tigh t sections th rough the woods, river crossings, rocky section s, muddy tree-rooted 'areas, wideop en clear-cut, log-congested ar eas, as well as the occasional briar patch. Most of th e riders had nothing bu t high prai se for the course. As Team KTM's Mike Lafferty put it afterward s, "So far this has been the best race of the series. These were trails compared to the other races, which were pretty much wide open. This is tree-banging fun - for people like us anyhow, but people ou t West mi ght not say enough of th at. I have felt m ore comfortable here than any of the oth er races. " Although Hawkins was able to get to a ll th e checkpoints with the few est penalty points, he didn't get through the day unscathed. Midway into the race he clipped a tree and bent the brake lever really bad. "When 1 arrived at the next gas stop my mecha nic (and team manager) Mike Webb replaced the entire brake system in under seven minutes . They reall y hu stl ed to get m e b ack o n track," Hawkins said. Goin g into the last section, Hatch had (Left) Five-time National Enduro Champ ion Randy Hawkins recorded his first win of the year , moving him to just one point behind series leader Ty Davis, who sk ipped the Little Raccoon Classic to compete In the National Hare & Hound in Californ ia. (Below) Steve Hatch kept Hawkins honest all day, fi nishing second overall. (Right) Third overall went to hare scrambles racer Doug Blackwell. By Deb and Ste ve Mid dlesworth Photo s by Steve Midd lesworth WELlSTON, OH, APR. 28 estled wi th in Jackson Cou nty in sou thern Ohio is the sma ll town of Well sto n, w hich last w ee ke nd played host to the 22nd ru nning of The Littl e Raccoo n Cl assic Na tional Enduro. The event, whi ch was . promo ted by the Ap pa lachian Dirt Riders Inc., go t under w ay at th e cou nty fairgrou nds and ra n th rou gh so me of the finest enduro terrain this coun try h as to oiier, Te am Su zuki's Ra n d y , H aw kin s, w ho has collected the infamous Raccoon Cap the last three years, ea r ned hi s fou rth in a row when he crossed the fina l check with the fewest pena lty points. "This is Ohio, and I've alw ays liked Ohio an d the racing here. I've had a lot of fun here an d this place suits my sty le of rid ing real well, and th e guys pu t on a great race here," said the vic torio us Haw kins. H aw kin s' teamm ate Steve H a tch snared th e run ner-up honors fo r his effo r ts, while th e Sp ort Cy cle Racin g Yama ha w ith Dou g Blackw ell aboar d gra bbed the number-three spot. KTM's Mike Lafferty rolled in with fou rth and Duan e Conn er came out of th e A class to take the fifth-overall spo t. The thr ee front-runners also com pet ed in a hare scrambles race in West Virginia the day before w ith Hatch taking th e w in t here. The Su zuki team did N th e lead w ith a one -poin t ad va n tage ove r Haw kin s. His luck would change for th e w or se, however, as he lost th e use of his Roll-Offs on his goggles and was plagued wit h a continuous streak of setbacks for the rest of the race. "1 was r id in g rea ll y goo d a nd h ad Ra n d y (Hawkins) by a point and everyo ne else by two or three. About three miles into the last section my Roll-Offs broke and 1 had no goggles to speak of. Every time 1 caught a lap per they' d roos t me and I'd ha ve to stop to clean th em. I cra sh ed about 15 tim es more than 1 should 've and went over the bars a few times and knocked myself silly ," sai d the disappointed Hatch. Blackwell had some p roblems ea rly on but got his rhyt hm after the first couple of sectio ns an d began to imp rove on his times. "I sm ashe d my pipe pr etty good in the first section," said Blackw ell. "I went do wn and it must have fallen on a log or somethi ng .- It killed the power a littl e bit but we rode it out. Th ings were n' t go ing my w ay in th e m orning but it turned arou nd by the middle of the day and things started wo rking real well." KTM's Matt Stavish endured the race with a severely sp raine d ank le and salvaged a sixth-place finish through it all. He ha d injured it at Loretta Lynn 's and wa s riding with it heavil y taped .