edges out Randy Hawkins fo r
n
By GEORGE V ILlAN YI
PH OTOS BY RAYMOND G UNDY
te ve Hatch has been working
hard th is season to mount an
assault on both the GNCC and
National Enduro Series . He has
consistently been among the
w inners , but rarely on the podium, and
not yet on top. Until today, that is. Hatch
rode his Thrott lehead.com Kawasaki
10<250 to victory over Randy Haw kins
and David Lykke , both of whom are
ahead of him in the series points stand-
S
48
ings. In Missouri, Hatch scored a five on
the day to nip Hawkins by just one point .
Hatch was ecstatic after the w in and had
plenty to ce lebrate, consideri ng it was
also his mechanic 's birthday the day
be fore , and his own birthday was on
Monday. T he win was a nice birthday
present for both of them.
"I can't say enough abo ut the Kawasaki
team and all my help and sponsors, "
Hatch said. "It's been a long time coming,
JUNE 9, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
and I sure had a ton of fun!"
Hawkins' score of six gave him a comfortab le cushion over third-p lace David
Lykke, who dropped a 10. Hawkins, who
holds second place in the points standings to
date . was almost on pace with Hatch today.
"Steve had me on the tie breakers by a
few seconds in the first loop, but he made
check 10, and I just missed it. and that
was the race . I made a couple of mistakes,
but Steve did a really good job."
40th Anniversary
Lykke, on the ot her hand, didn't feel
really good today. "I had no rea l problems; the bike worked good ; mostly I just
got beat by Steve and Randy," he said.
"They were going faster than me . The
club did a good ; job on the event. I sort of
liked the deep 'check ins.' It's part of the
game in Endures, and I actually like that
stuff. But I played it pretty much straight
up . I never take any chances where I
might get burned."
