Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~~DUROW~~~Q~i~_b_~_ro_S_~_~_R_OO_~_6 ~ Randy Hawkins scored his fourth win of the season, moving one step closer to clinching his fourth National Championship. Defending champ Jeff Russell burned a check and settled for a third-overall finish. Local rider Glen Martinson rode to the Four-Stroke A win and seventh overall. Hawkins adds Buckhorn to win list By Chris JonDurn REDDING, CA, ocr. 11 hile most of the National Championship Enduro circuit regulars shudder at the thought of leaving their more familiar eastern mud bogs and tight tree-lined trails for the usually dusty and jersey-ripping manzanita-lined trails of California, three-time National Champion Randy Hawkins could care less. Instead, he just keeps on winning - dust, mud, rocks, or roots - nothing seems to faze the 26-year-old veteran competitor. W 18 The rider from Traveler's Rest, South Carolinia, proved this once again by scoring his fourth National win of the season, his third in California, at the Buckhorn National Enduro. Hawkins scored a narrow threepoint victory over KTM's Kelby Pepper after riding through 10 checkpoints that were scattered over three loops, totaling approximately 105 miles worth of trail. Finishing third was the defending champ Jeff Russell, who matched KTM teammate Pepper's six-point score, but was edged out at the tie-breakers by three seconds. Hawkins' teammate Steve Hatch and 1987 champ Kevin Hines rounded out the top five. After last year's Buckhorn National which unfortunately featured bone-dry conditions and the worst dust that most of the competitors had ever encountered, the Redding Dirt Riders decided to move this year's location ~ from the Buckhorn Reservoir to the Chappie Shasta Dam OHV Park. Many of the trails were borrowed from the Shasta Dam Grand Prix, an annual stop on the National Hare Scrambles circuit. While dust was still somewhat of a problem, everyone agreed that the conditions were far better than last year's event. ..... "There's a lot more rock in the soil than at Buckhorn Reservoir," said club enduro steward Craig Fator. "There'll still be dust, but it won't be as bad as last year." While the competitors were happy to escape the dust of Buckhorn Reser- . voir, many' AA and A class riders longed for the technical trails that the old location had provided. Most of this .year's trail was easier than in typical Nationals, and several riders zeroed the first two loops. The Yoko/Interlink/Sprocket Specialists/Sport Tracks/Fator's Suzukisponsored Buckhorn National ended a five-month summer break in the series - the previous round was held in Ohio back in early May. Just three rounds remain, and the easy-going Hawkins is well on his way to reclaiming the enduro crown, which was taken from him last year by Russell. Russell added another chapter to what has thus far been a disappointing season, as he experienced time-keeping woes and burned the first check, eventually finishing third to Hawkins and Pepper. Russell has failed to win a single National so far this year, and is fast running out of time to retain his title. The riders began leaving the starting line in groups of four at 7:30 a.m., and immediately hit an easy check at 4.3 miles, where they first encountered· what would be a recurring problem throughout the enduro. The club was using official District 36 clocks, which showed both key time and flip-card time. Unfortunately, the flip cards for all of the checks had been set one minute ahead of key time, so riders who zeroed the checks had scores that s·hpwed them as being a minute late. Some riders, however, actually burned the first check, and their scores showed them as being on time. "I came around the corner and saw the check, and I thought I was a little bit hot," said Russell, who was riding on minute 22. "But the guy held up the clock, and it said 22, so I didn't know what to do. You don't have too much time to decide so I went in, and it turned out that it was a minute off." Pepper and Husqvarna four-strokemounted Hines· were other riders to burn the check, getting their day off to a bad start. Two more checks awaited the riders on the loop, and both checks were also a minute off. After the first check, though, most had figured out the clock problems and zeroed the remaining checks on the loop. Hines and Husqvarna-mounted Dan Neilson were the only top riders to drop points, as both were a minute late at check number two. . "No problems so· far," said the Acerbis/American Suzuki/Answer Pro Taper/Bieffe/Cobra/CTi/EBC/Factory Connection/ICO/Metezler/MS/ Pro Circuit/RK/Sprocket Specialists/ Uni Filter-backed Hawkins after the . loop. "The bike's working okay and everything; I'm just waiting for the hard stuff to start." "It's fun, but a little easy so far," echoed Hawkins' teammate Steve Hatch. "Once in a while we'd pick up the pace a little bit, but then it would open back up." Hines was a little less patient. "It was boring! Someone should go knock

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