Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS EDITED BY CAMERON COATNEY ~-=--=--=------=-------------------------' (left) Team Yamaha's Randy Hawkins won the Swamp Fox Enduro with a seven-point card, winning on tie breake rs against KTM's Allen Gravitt and Franklin Ramey III. (Below) Gravitt (s hown) got second and Ramey settled lor third. By Kenneth Ki ng CHARLFSTON,SC, JAN. 11 e a m Yamaha's Rand y H a wkins rode his YZ250 to the overall win at round nine of the SETRA Championship Enduro Seri es, the Swamp Fox en d u ro, a dual-sanctioned event with the Florida Trail Riders . The Yam aha s tar w on ou t in a th ree-w ay ba ttle with local KTM hero Allen Gravitt and SETRA cha mpion Franklin Ramey Ill. All three riders dropped se ven points th roughou t th e 69 miles o f sand a nd whoops. "I rea lly wa nted to win this race. My mechani c had my bike set up perfectly . I pushed things up a little in the last two sections to try and make up for a mistake I made early on in the ra ce," Hawkins said, referring to a burned check in the first section . The Family Riders, out of Charleston , hosted the even t. The enduro is held in the Francis Mari on National Forest and you might w onder wh y FTR would hav e a race in South Carolina. They do it becau se, w ell , th e terrain is ju st like Florid a' s: sa ndy . When you ha ve sa nd, you have whoops, an d South Carolina has them from minor ones to the bikesw allo wi ng kind. Recent ra ins created problems in some of the low-lying ar eas the forest. Th e club tri ed to s tay away from as many of these as pos sibl e, bu t ther e we re still a lot of mud bogs . If you were one of the riders on a late row, the bogs were bad . This is one race where you want as early a row as pos sible. The club had close to 400 riders, so you can imagine what it was like on row 70. Off the start, the club gave the riders a 5.5-mil e w armup section wi th plenty of whoops and plenty of mudholes. Af te r th e warmup rid e, there was a reset; th en riders were sent down a SETRAlFTR Swamp Fox Enduro Charlesto n, South Carolina Results : Ja nuary 11, 1998 (Round 9) 1l 26 ball w as d e finit el y in Fra nk lin's a nd Gravitt's court. Check number six was a goi ng -in check at 64.8 miles. The trails after were ti ght and m ud d y a n d a lmos t seven m iles long. H a w kins kn ew he had to ma ke up points a nd dropped a th ree, Gravitt and Ramey a four. " I came in a t a .04, ju st mi ssin g a three instead of a fou r," Gr a vitt sai d. "That's the wa y it went all day." Hawki ns had now narrowed the gap by a point. The club placed a restart a t 78 miles for th e fina l 10 miles of th e race. The trail was on the fast side, but once again there were plenty of bogs in whi ch you had to be ca refu l. Ramey d ropped a 2:20, Gravitt a 2:02 and Haw kins a 1:18. "I knew I had to bump things up a bit if I wanted to wi n," sa id Haw kins, w ho also had good things' to say about the SETRA series. "SETRA is probably the only series in the country that has the variety of terrain they have. You can ride roots and rocks one weekend and sand whoops the next. It's really a great place to train for the National even ts." Gravitt and Ramey had good rides they just fell a little short. All three riders d rop ped seven poin ts for the day, with Hawkins getting the nod on tie breakers. "I felt I rode good all day, maybe just not as good as Allen or Randy," Ram ey (~ said. "It was a good race." OIA:. Randy Hawkins (7) , AA: 1. Allen Gravitt (7); 2. Fra nklin R. mcy 111 (7) , a 200 A: 1. Ricky Den nis (20); 2. Tommy Vcator (20); 3. Brian Martin (23). 250 A: 1. Doug Masencup (11) ; 2. Du stin Beaty (12); 3. Don Baxley OS). OPEN A:. 1. Mich ael G rizz le (11); 2. Jason Chambers s ho rt sectio n of pa vement to th e fir st sec tion of timed trail. Riders went int o the woods at 16.8 miles for a tough 20 miles of woods. There isn 't a w hole lot of variety in the area, so the difficulty of the trail is measured in 'the amount a nd th e size of th e wh oops a nd how tig h t th e tr ees a r e. This section was lon g eno ug h to ha ve a little o f every th ing. MSR-sp onsored Gravitt had the best sco re throu gh, ze ro ing th e chec k and coming in at 27 seconds int o his minute. Ramey was next with a zero and a .05; th en cam e H awkins, w ho burned th e check by three seconds , costing him two points. "I mad e a few passes and had to cut a few corn ers, and that go t my speedo off, and I just blew the check," Hawkins said. There were a few miles of trail before it was time to gas . Afte r the gas stop, there was a going-in check at 44.8 miles . The club had a devilish sense of humor and placed a canopy and mannequin in the woods a t the proper mileage for a check. Rid ers w ere creepi ng into the woods and the cano py cou ld be seen, so it looked jus t like a check. They didn't find out until the y got right on it that it was a d ecoy. Many th en figured there wo uld be no check going into the tight woods ahead , so the y gassed it - only to burn the real check placed shortly down the trai l. The section was only five miles lon g, but it wa s the tightest of the day. H aw k in s, Gra v itt and Ramey ea ch dropp ed one point while the average was fo u r or fiv e poi nt s for ev eryone else. Up to th is point, Gravitt held the lead , followed by Ramey and Hawkins. The SETRA guys had the perfect opportunity to take the win fro m the former multi-time National Champion as th e (8); 3. Steve Ha rd ema n. (2 1). 4--STRK A: I. Martin Pru ett ( 6); 2. Jeff Harris ( 9); 3. Ceoffe Poo le (20). VET A: 1. Johnny McCoy (10); 2. Kevin Ta ylo r (11); 3. Mitch McRee (1 n. . SR k \. Robert Nee ley (II); 2. Mik e Gentry (18); 3. Joe Roya l (19). SlS R k \. Joh n Kirby (18); 2. Mik e Reynolds (25); 3. Lewis Smith (27). MS TR A: 1. Way ne Beaty (22); 2. Joe Va n See ter cm;3. John Fero (29). 200 B: 1. Steve Lewis (18 ); 2. Ryan C rist (24); 3. Raymond Cotton (26 ). . . 250 ~: 1. John ny Ca m pbe ll O S); 2. Donn ie Brew er (22); 3. Terrell Holl away (23). OPEN B: 1. Steve Hen son (1 7) ; 2. Alan Martin (21); 3. James Embro (32) . 4-STRK 8: 1. Russel l Carrett (27); 2. Jeffery Wal ker (31); 3. Greg Cla rk (3n. . VET D: \. Kim w atson (20); 2. Jack Derryberry (24); 3. Frank Erickson. SR B: l. lem w ooten (17); 2. Ph il Ellis (1 7) ; 3. Eddie Rovals (27), • S ISR 8 : 1. Pat ri ck Go lden (39); 2. Mark Za c hary (41); 3. Gene Murray (44), MSTR D: \. Richard Smith (30); 2. Larry Baxley (32); 3. Fred Hammon d (33), 125 C: \. Jess ie Goode (38); 2. Robert Todd (4S); 3. Jenni Lamb (47). 200 C: 1. Michael Cox (20); 2. Da ne Smith (28); 3. Lance Johnso n (31). 250 C: I. Rusty Easter (26); 2. Stephen Black (26); 3. Philli p Sims (29). OrEN C: 1. Brent Beve rly (26); 2. John Fish er (29). 4-STRK a 1. Curt is Poole (29); 2. Niki john son (30); 3. Keith Bowman (35). VET C= 1. Mel Smith; 2. Cleve Roberts (37); 3. Bill Wyroug h. SR C: 1. G reg Luther (30); 2. Kirt Lyn ch (31); 3. Patri ck Linvi lle (32). S/SR C: 1. Stu a rt Brn dow (49) ; 2 . William Thompso n (62); 3. Wayne Wilkes (63). MSTR C: 1. Ray Cotto n (53); 2. Bud Ha rdeman (56); 3. Paul McDonald (60). GLDN MSTR : 1. Geo rg e You n t (36) ; 2. Pa ul lley (49). Richar dson (47); 3. joe Ho WM N: 1. Sue Hea th (57) ; 2. Kim Sea ls (125 ); 3. Lind a Rome (86). VINT: 1. Kevi n Hod ge (l0). DIS: Ryan Newton (76). SPTS1'dN (11-200): 1. Ryan Hardwi ck. SPTSMN (210+): 1. Ed Myen 2. Tim Hoga n.

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