Ultimate Hawaiian Enduro;
Welcome To The Jungle
T
he second round of the AMA
National Hard Enduro Cham-
pionship took a trip to the Omao
riding area on the Hawaiian is-
land of Kauai to tackle the steep,
slippery and extremely wet
jungle terrain. Consistent heavy
rains poured down all week lead-
ing up to the race, filling creeks
with raging flows and drench-
ing the hillsides. Hawaiians are
known for riding well in slippery
terrain—a necessary skill when
your local riding area is less than
10 miles away from one of the
wettest places on earth—Mount
Wai'ale'ale. That local advantage
was huge as Saturday's main
event got even more rain.
All of this played into the
hands of the local Hawaiian rac-
ers perfectly with Bulletproof De-
signs KRD Hui's Kawelo Huddy
taking his third consecutive win
at the event, finishing in three
hours and 31 minutes.
But it wasn't just a third win
in a row for Huddy on his home
court, it was total domination.
Huddy had a one-hour-and-
54-minute gap over second
place at the finish—not some-
thing you see when the best
racers in the series are all there—
and they were.
"[I had] a lot of pressure know-
ing this is my hometown; I got
no excuses," Huddy said. "I ride
here all the time. So, the pres-
sure was high. Kana [Kamakana
Waiwaiole-Kahalepuna] was
putting the pressure on me in the
beginning, but about 20-minutes
in, I pulled a gap and then tried
to stay calm and clean every
line.
"Saving the bike was a big
factor because you are on the
throttle the whole day in third
gear, fourth gear. You can never
let the clutch fade because once
WIND
IN THE
P46
Kawelo Huddy used
the home course
advantage to get up
front and distance
himself from the best
hard enduro racers
in the country by a
huge margin.
PHOTOS
BY RYAN MCCASLAND &
OWEN GORSUCH.
