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ENDURO ". AMA ~tionaJ Ch.am~onship Enduro. Series . Round 9: Delaware State Enduro • time-keeping equipment on rus Dike, but rode on the same minute with teammate Hawkins - who would ever trunk you would need time-keeping eqillpment when riding with the five-time National Champion who has won Delaware several times. There is nobody better at time keeping than Hawkins. Smith rode hard and fast all day and finished in second place - and also became the deciding factor in the championsmp series. Davis, who finished third, needed to finish second to have a chance of winning his second National Charilpionsmp. Hawkins was assured of his sixth national championsrup as long as Davis rudn't break into the top two, regardless of rus result. (Left) Former Enduro National Champion and Team Suzuki rider Steve Hatch came out to Delaware and stole the show by taking the win and securing fourth overall In the point standings. (Below) Team Suzuki's Rodney Smith rode to a second place, denying Ty Davis the championship. By Larry Toby Photos by Jay Chittenden DELAWARE CITY, DE, ocr. 27 n a beautiful fall day riders faced the tight trees, mud and the notorious "sluice" for which the Delaware enduro has become famous. It was a day i'n which Team Suzuki brought its entire off-road team to Delaware in an effort to win its third offroad title this year. With a protest pending from Kawasaki, the huge team effort led by former National Enduro Champion Steve Hatch apparently was large enough to get the job done. The battle everyone was hoping for between the two top contenders and National Champions, Team Suzuki rider Randy Hawkins and Kawasaki Team Green rider Ty Davis, never materialized after Hawkins' bike developed mechanical problems early in the event. But the battle between Davis and the rest of Team Suzuki continued until the very end. It was Hatch's day. The Team Suzuki and former National Enduro Champion was in a league of his own as he consistently turned in the fastest times of the day and rode to a convincing win. "I came out here to help win the title for my teammate, Randy," Hatch said. "The win felt real good. It makes me want to ride more enduros. But I'm going to make a full commitment to the GNCC series next year, I think I have a good chance to win that title." During the last few years, Hatch has shown that he- has the speed to win many events, bu t several injuries have kept him from earning more titles. Hatch rud make a commitment to attend some enduros next year and left the door open to possibly seek another enduro title in 1998. Hatch came to Delaware with a heavily wrapped hand from a thumb injury suffered at a recent GNCC round. Team Suzuki members joked afterward that they will have to intentionally injure Hatch's hand more often since he rode so well. Hawkins said of rus teanunate, "Steve goes faster when he can't use as mach throttle." Recently crowned AMA Hare Scrambles Champion and Team Suzukj rider Rodney Smith also came to Delaware to help ms team win, although Smith has ridden few in the past. He carried no "This was a great team effort," Hawkins said. "These guys (Rodney Smith and Steve Hatch) are like my brothers. We spend a lot of time with each other when we are not racing and would do anytmng to help each other. Our strength is in our team. Steve and Rodney came in here and won this championsmp for me and Suzuki." It would be nice if the story ended here. Unfortunately, it doesn't and this championsmp will always have a cloud of uncertainty over it. Before the first gas stop, Hawkins' bike seized. Instead of qilltting the race, he swapped bikes with teammate Mark Hyde, who was riding on the same minute with Hawkins and Smith. Hyde was riding Hawkins' practice bike wmch was nearly identical to the bike Hawkins started on. After switching bikes, Hawkins caught up with Smith in the notorious "sluice" section and may have helped keep Smith from burning the.next check. Over half the AA and A riders burned the next check and eliminated their hopes for a high finish. Without timekeeping equipment on ms bike, there would have been no way Smith would have known he was running several minutes hot. "I had already told Rodney (Smith) to waH for m~ after going through the sluice," Hawkins said. "If I rudn't come through, he was supposed to ride with Steve (Hatch), who was in the next row back. By waiting for Steve, Rodney could have gone through the next check in the last few seconds of his minute because Steve would have been riding about five seconds hot. Even if Rodney goes through with Steve, he only drops one point." That check, number six, was definitely the triooest of the day with many top riders losing between 22 and 37 points~ However, there were still nine checks remaining. At the first gas stop, Team Suzuki made some changes on the bike Hawkins was now riding to help him continue. This included placing Hawkins' scorecard on the swapped bike and replacing the letter "B" wruch belonged to Hyde with the letter "A" which was Hawkins' starting letter. Hawkins continued racing the event and was able to provide time keeping for Smith the rest of the day. What we won't know is how Smith might have finished if Hawkins had not continued riding on the illegal bike (Hyde's bike). Smith is an excellent rider in ms own right (he has won the Hare Scrambles and Qualifier Series titles this year). He also had picked up a point on Davis before Hawkins' bike broke. On the other hand, most enduro riders understand it would have been exceedingly ruIficult for anyone to finish in the top five without time-keeping equipment, let alone for someone who is relatively new to enduros. Hawkins, who had failed to improve his points situation any with his fourthplace finish, disqualified himself after the race. The controversy, and protest tha t is pending, is over Hawkins' actions and Smith's finish. As it currently stands, Smith's second-place finish allows Hawkins to win his sixth AMA National Enduro Championship. If Smith's finish is thrown out, then Davis wins his second consecutive AMA National Enduro Championship. The Delaware.event has produced three showdowns in the last four years, but none to compare with this one. In 1993, Hawkins won the event to take the championship over Hatch. In 1994, Hatch won the event to take the championship over former national champion Kevin Hines. In 1995, Davis had locked up the series title before the Delaware round.