Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RELlABILlTYENDURO . AMA National Championship Reliability Enduro Series Round 2: Little Burr Two-Day Qualifier (Left ) Rodney Smith recorded the overall win at the Little Burr Two-Day Qualifier in Ohio. (Below) Guy Cooper finished up second overall and won the Lightweight Two-Stroke class. By Steve Berkner MCARTHUR, OH MAY 25-26 , eam Suzuki Off-Road turned in a perfect "wi n, p la ce a n d show" performance by taking th e top three overall honors at the 39th Annua l Litt le Burr Reliability En du ro. Leading the Suz uki charge was thr ee-time Reliability Enduro Cha mpio n Rodney Smit h, wh o topped the leaderboard after both d ays of competition. Fini sh in g secon d and thi rd overall were Smith' s team mates Guy Cooper and Randy Hawkins, in that order. Smi th, who com peted in the Heavyweight (200cc to Open) 2-Stro ke class p ost ed a n overa ll sco re o f 4512 seconds/ points. Coope r finished second, 43 secon ds back, and H a w kins finished th ird, 54 seconds off Smith's wi nning p ace. Both Cooper and H awkins compe ted in th e Lig h tweight (0-175cc) 2Stroke class. The Suzuki RM-mo unted trio domi nated five of the Qu alifier' s nine special tests, posting the top three tim es in all four of the grass tracks an d the final mo tocross. Smith wo n both of day one's grass tracks , while Cooper wo n both of da y two's grass tracks. Smith and Cooper, two former world-class motocrossers turned off-readers, tied for fastest times in the final motocross test. The overall went to Smith, who finished with a first-p lace and three second-place times in the event's four terrain te sts. CRE Import's Kevin H in es finished fo urth overall, while Sport Cycle Yamaha's Doug Blackw ell placed fifth . Hines and Blackw ell finished u p 147 and 158 seconds behind Smit h. "When I saw (day one 's ) scores th is morn ing (Sunday), I was real surprised to fin d out th at I had th e lead ," sa id Smi th. "This is the fourth time I've ridd en this even t, and I've a lw ays h ad trou b le ge tti ng through the firs t d ay witho u t dropping a lot of points. "I d idn' t reall y ha ve one good test (Satu rday). I didn' t feel like I wa s blazingly fast anywhere. The trails were just 7 22 plen ty of moisture here this week. The tr a il s h a ve ac tually dried out pretty good considering how mu ch rain we had. "We've built in a real relaxed trail pace. We've used plenty of easy tran sport sections to tie together some excellent enduro-rider-type test s. Th e only th ing we ma y h ave to be careful of is rain. If that happens, it'll be a d ifferent race, so we're prepared to r e-route around the potenti al bottl enecks." The tw o-day Qualifier was scheduled to run two identical 127-mile loops each d ay with two gra ss tracks and two terrain tests. "Each day they'll run the same threemile grass track," Ely said. "It'll be the first test in the morning and also the last test of the da y. During the d ay there are also tw o excellent 4- to 5-mile-long terrain tests. And on da y tw o we've got a final five-lap MX test." H awki ns, w h o fin ishe d d ay one in second place overall, 35 seconds behind Smith, said: "Yesterday's trail was pretty typical for Oh io (when it's been raining). There w as plenty of standi ng wate r so slippery and there w e re plenty of roots an d logs to cross. It mad e it real dangerous at speed. I even fell twice in one of the terrain tests. "My strategy for today (Sunday) is to back off a little and just protect my lead . The last tw o years I' ve trailed eit h er Randy (Hawkins) or Steve (Hatch) after day one by abou t as much time as I've got for my lead today. And I know how hard it is to make up that much time." Helping wi th Smith's defensive stra tegy were deteriorating trail cond itio ns ca used by a rai ns to rm early Su n day morn ing. Whil e da y one was a perfect day for ridi ng with pl enty of suns hine an d m ild temperatures, day tw o was starting to look more like a survival run. Vic Ely, Enduro Riders Association president a nd event trail bo ss , said before the start of the event: "We' ve had (Below) Randy Hawkins comp leted a Suzuki sweep In th ird overa ll. Here, Hawkins rides through a check where a bar-code system was used to score the event in some sections of the single- and twotrack trails and, at times, it was like riding on grease. Today (with the rain ) it's going to be tough to maintain a good trail pace at times, and a real challenge to keep it on two wheels d uring the tests." Hawkins, a fi ve-time Nation al End u ro Champion said o n Sunday morning: "I don't think I'v e got any real chance of catching Rodney today, bu t I' m go ing to t ry . I'm way down on power (on a 125) over his 250 and, with the rain today, that' ll make a big difference. But I intend on keeping my (nineseco nd) lead on Guy. I' m jus t going to go ou t there and ride sma rt and try and stay up. H opefully, I'll make up eno ugh tim e in th e te rrai n tests that it won't matter by the final MX test. It' s funn y how you look at this wh en you have to go up against Guy a n d Rodney on a motocross test."

• Cover