On The Pegs May 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 | Page 61

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 5 - MAY 2020
61
kind of locked up for them. Then we went to Randy Hawkins, and he was kind
of already set with Paul Whibley.” Randy also had Thad Duvall on the team, so
Whibley and Thad made up Am Pro Yamaha that year.
According to Keith Obermeyer, Randy reached out to Donnie Luce at Yamaha,
and they were able to sell bikes to Charlie, through Obermeyer Yamaha, at a su-
per low price. So, basically, Charlie bought his own bikes and was riding for con-
tengency money that season.
“I ended up buying two bikes from Obermeyer,” said Charlie. “They were my
GNCC and Enduro race bikes. Randy (Hawkins) had a leftover YZ450 that he gave
me just to practice on. So I basically went through that whole year with three
bikes. Then for the mechanic side of things, Dale Steagle, Randy’s old mechanic,
he was kind of like my enduro mechanic. He would drive to the races. Then Daryl
Raines, Jason’s dad, he would do my GNCC bike. So it was kind of like a team ef-
fort that Randy helped make happen. But my bikes would stay with him in South
Carolina. They would prep the bikes. As far as the practice bikes, I would drive
down to Randy’s every so often and Dale would do a top end and just kind of
refresh my practice bike, just to make that work. So as far as actual expenses to
go racing, I just had to buy the two bikes, but Yamaha or Obermeyer covered my
parts. I was just basically on contingency only at the time. Thankfully I had a re-
ally good deal with Thor, Shoei and Scott that kind of carried me through. I actu-
ally ended up making really good money considering where I was starting out. It
ended up being a pretty good year.”
The 2010 season was also when the National Enduro Series change from time-
keeping to the No Restart format, which helped Charlie.
“I was up testing with Randy that winter, so it was just kind of fitting to race
Sumter, since it was close. I remember that year Sumter was freezing cold. I think
it was in the teens. I couldn’t even feel my clutch finger. I just remember it being
so cold. I ended up winning that race but I didn’t win a single test. So I was hap-
py, but bummed to win the race but not actually win a test.”
Charlie had only raced one other Enduro in his kife before that win, which was
at Sumter, the previous year, and he finished second.
“I thought I had a pretty good shot at winning in 2010 because the year before,
I just drove up from Florida; Me and Rachel, we just kind of went up. I just signed
up in the pro class. They didn’t really have live scoring, instant scoring. I was on
row… I think I was in the 40s. I was pretty far back, but it was still decent. Nobody
really counted me. I ended up second in that race. I wasn’t too far behind Bob-
bitt, so I ended up second. That was the only enduro I ever really did. So going
into 2010, given how well I did the year before, I figured I had a pretty decent
shot at winning. I liked the Yamaha. It was good. I felt confident going into it.”