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While inspecting the damage I'd
inflicted to his KDX, he noticed a
large crack in the intake mani-
fold boot, which had probably
digested who knows how much
gunk. Even if it hadn't, he didn't
want to take any chances and
said he'd rather I not ride the
bike anymore. Oh, darn.
Yeah, after a good night's
sleep, I was disappointed the
next morning to watch everyone
suit up and start the loop around
Mauna Kea without me. I do not
like not finishing races. I might
be last, but at least I'll finish. I
can remember only one other
race, okay, two, where I didn't
finish with a working motorcycle
underneath me. The Mauna Kea,
however, was the first. It was the
first race that had ever beaten
me. Hard. The winner that week
-
end, by the way, was Honolulu
City Councilman John DeSoto.
I returned to race the Mauna
Kea 200 three more times and
finished each time. I got bet-
ter, too. The last one, I was in
the top five overall before the
jungle got me the last 10 or so
miles the next day. My throttle
arm locked up and I sank down
the leaderboard faster than the
Titanic. The winner that day was
my good friend, former room
-
mate Ron Lawson from Dirt Bike
magazine. In his first attempt!
Not long afterward, the race
seemed to slip into silence.
I stopped hearing about it. I
later learned it kind of went into
"outlaw" mode for a while. Evi
-
dently, the race had become too
large and too popular, making it
increasingly difficult for the orga-
nizers to host. They tried making
it a shorter one-day event, but
that didn't save it. Some people
say I/Cycle News had something
to do with its demise, bringing
too much national attention to it
and too many of the wrong eyes
on it. But environmental issues
and land preservation were
most likely the real killers, like so
many other great races.
The Mauna Kea 200 was
definitely one of the greats that
few "mainlanders" ever got to
race, but those who did, know
just how awesome it was. I feel
fortunate to be one of them.
CN
There were no such
things as GoPros back
then, but we did have
pocket cameras. I'd race
ahead, buy a little time,
stop, and take a couple
of shots. You could
do that in old-school
timekeeping enduros like
the Mauna Kea 200.
CNIIARCHIVES
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