AMA/FMF N a tion al Champions hip Enduro S e r ie s
R ound 9 : Harris R a n c h
wee ke nds in a year, the onl y "a va ilab le" date was right in the middle of a
typ ical Texas heat wave.
B y W A YNE M cM A HA N
PH OT OS BY STEVE B ERKE N E R
MUENSTER, TX, JULY 8-9
(j) NCC ace Shane Watts endured
t he h eat from Randy Hawkins
a nd the Te xa s sun to emerge as the
com b in e d win ner of the two- day
T e x a s Na t iona l Enduro /R e liab ilit y
Qu a lifie r.
Te m p e ra t u re s flir te d wit h t r ip le
dig it s th e e nt ire wee k end , pl a c ing
more of a pr e m ium on reli ability of
rid er th a n o f m a chi n e . T h e ho sti ng
club wen t to g rea t leng t hs to he lp
ke ep t he riders h ydrated a nd teste d
with in re a so n. Texas in Ju ly is not th e
ide a l setting for off-road riding , mu ch
les s ra c ing , b ut wit h o n ly s o m a n y
l!J
52
..JULY
26, 2000'
cue
I
e
DAVDNE
Rid e rs were given some ti m e to
wa rm up b e fo re t he fi rst of eight
time d tests for th e da y. After the first
g rass track, Wa t ts , Ha wki n s , an d
Yam ah a -m oun t ed Da v id Pe ar s on
each clocked out six sec ond s ahead
of e ve ryo ne e lse . As th e ride rs sort ed
o ut th emse lves a nd the ir equipment,
the next two tes ts saw for mer enduro
ch amps Laffe rty a nd Ha wkins trade
test wins .
"My YZ426 is reall y working g rea t
here in the dee p sand ; it ne ve r qu its
pullin' or d iggin '!" sa id Ya maha / Fa cn
a
uv
s
(Left) It was ho t in
Texas and so was
KTM's Sh a ne Watts. A
fo nne . ISDE overall
winner, Watts came
fro m beh ind to win
the Texas Two-Day.
(Above) Fred Hoess
pin ned his HU5qvama
125 to win the
Lightweight TwoStroke class. (Right)
Ra ndy Hawkins was
the leader after day
one but couldn't hold
It. Watts got him at
the end, but Hawkins
still finished second
overall.