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Jeff Russell scored his first win of the season, dropping 24 points in the wet event. Randy Hawkins got stuck. in a mudhole and finished in the runner-up position. Russell bears down The AA competitors started showing their stuff as Russell, Hawkins and Cunningham all dropped six in a tough, tight, wooded section before the second check. Team Husqvarna's Kevin Hines, bowever, started a day he would rather forget, crashing before that check in the slippery conditions and bending the rear brake pedal around his footpeg, rendering his rear brake useless. "I'm riding the 360 two-stroke for the fit:st time after racing the fourstroke all year, and it was a handful on the slick trail," Hines said. "Crashing and bending my brake pedal back didn't help my adaptation process at all. I couldn't change it until the gas stop halfway into the event, and by then my day was shot." . Hawkins wouldn't pull into the lead until the section before the gas in the phragmitis reeds where both Russell and Cunningham ran into problems. At the 70-mile gas stop, there was a flurry of activity in both camps as Suzuki's Dale Segal and Mike Webb tended to Hawkins' machine, changing some jets after Randy informed them it was a little lean, and changing the front wheel on Mark Hyde's DR four-stroke. Over in the KTM pits, mechanic Tom Komar had Kelby Pepper's 1993 KTM torn apart in an effort to change the rear brake pads. Russell's number one machine was routinely prepped while he grabbed a bite to' eat. After leaving the gas stop, Hawkins enjoyed a one-point advantage which he carried until he got hopelessly stuck in a mudhole. After pulling himself out of that, he almost burned the next section by trying to carve some time off his twopoint disadvantage. Both title contenders would drop the same amount of points to the finish, despite a close call on Hawkins' part in the last long wooded section. "My day went pretty good," Hawkins said. "I put a point on everyone at the second section, and my crew informed me that I had a full minute on J.R. gOir:lg' into the third long section. I was riding really good, but I got stuck in a mudhole at 'the reed section when I tried to avoid another By Michael Snyder BEAR, DE, ocr. 25 early minutes. There would be a total fter going winless in the first six Nationals of the year, defending of 15 checks, three of which were tieNational Champion Jeff Russell breakers, and those three checks were finally had some luck on his side and instrumental in deciding the fourth he scored the overall win at the 29th and seventh positions in the day's final Annual Delaware National Enduio. outcome. His luck, however, came at the expense One nationally ranked rider who of three-time National Champion was in attendance but didn't suit up Randy Hawkins, who held the advanto ride was Suzuki's Steve Hatch. "I tage until he got stuck in a mudhole was practicing with Rodney Smith a a little more than halfway through the couple days after the California event. That literally handed the lead National' two weeks ago .and I to KTM's Russell. Russell dropped 24 crashed," Hatcl:J. said. "I thought I points, two better than the 26 that jammed my thumb and didn't think showed on Hawkins' scorecard. Finanything about it. I came home and ishing in third spot was four-time kept training but my thumb kept champ Terry Cunningham, who was progressively getting worst, especially after I tried to ride in preparation, for one point down on Hawkins at the conclusion of the event. Rounding out this event. I went to the doctor and the top five were Matt Stavish and he told me I had a broken bone in my Allan 'Gravitt. Stavish eased out Grathumb. I won't be riding a bike for - about two months, so that ends my vitt in the tie-breakers. season." . "This event is, in my opinion, the best stop on the circuit as far as As the 450 riders started to stage for their ordeal, all eyes were on Suzuki's organization and craftiness, and it Hawkins, as he had an opportunity to really makes you feel like you accomplish something winning it," said wrap up his fourth title if his closest challenger, KTM's Russell, finished Russell. "Randy's got the points lead fourth or lower at the conclusion of and he's the one with the pressure, so the day's run. One rider who wouldn't all I've got to do is keep applying it. prove to be a factor in the overall With two rounds still to go, I'm not outcome was Hawkins' teammate Jan giving up this number one plate Hrehor, who encountered problems without a fight." when his Suzuki blew a crank seal out. Longtime trail boss Charles Staple"I started my bike to go and the thick ford had a few new tricks up his sleeve blue smoke told me something was which included running the course in reverse direction from the previous wrong," said the Czech rider. "I drove year, as well as cutting some new the bike back to the pits where Dale section's that kept the riders in the Segal, Mike Webb and Charles Halcomb woods more, and a multitude of speed started tearing it apart. They got it changes that assured timekeeping together in about 45 minutes. I took off, but the seal only held for a couple would play an important role in the day's outcome. An, added bonus for of miles before it happened again. This difficulty were some rain showers that is the same bike that I'm using in the fell on the area the afternoon and. hare scrambles, as well as being evening before the start, which turned Randy's 1991 bike, and it has over 30 the clay-based soil into a slippery races on the original bottom end of the motor, so it's probably just tired." affair, especially for those riders on the A 18 . rider after coming out of a blind turn, and I buried my bike up to the motor cases. If a club member hadn't been there, I'd probably still be out there because the suction of the mud held the bike in there pretty good. I took a bad fall in one of the last sections and actually knocked myself out. That's the first time since I've been racing that I've done that, but luckily, Mark Hyde was on my minute and stopped to revive me. With my secondplace finish today, all I have to do is finish third in Indiana to clinch the title. " KTM/Fox Racing/Sprocket Specialist/EK Chain/Acerbis/Dunlop/ Wiseco/Duralube/Rocky Sports/ Arai/Scott USAlFMF-supported Russell said he had a problem in the early stages of the event. "I started on minute 21 and thought it was pretty slippery. I was wondering if it was just slick for me or if everyone had the same problems. I thought it was going to be a long day after I fell a couple times and banged,.off a few trees. It tacked up this afternoon and I had no real problems after the gas stop except for a couple minor crashes. The check placement was perfect and, although the mileage was off just a little here and there, the club had mileage markers right before each check to compare with. This club .puts on, in my opinion, the best enduro on the circuit and it always amazes me the amount of effort and thought put into this event. I was riding the 1993 for the second time and, with the ideal conditions today compared with the California dust-bowl we had two weeks ago, it ran perfectly." High-Point A and third place finisher Cunningham of Team Green also had a few encounters with the ground. "I was getting used to my time-keeping equipment in the early ,stages as I haven't ridden an enduro since Ohio back in May. I crashed pretty hard about 48 miles out when I hit an old erosion ditch and that really scared me as I knew I was going to crash and there was nothing I could do about it. I dropped an extra point that I should have never dropped because of that ordeal. After that, I got