Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126242
La st C ha nc e En du ro The Last Chance Enduro loop got a bit -ah. physical. in spots. By Larry Langley CHARL IE'S WAGO N WHEE L CAFE, CALIF . , DEC . 4/5 Bultac o R e p Mike Hann on claime d the Distric t 37 Numb er One Heavy weigh t plate with a secon d overal l finish ' in the Califor nia Enduro Assn's annual Last Chance Enduro . The high finish for Hannon was im port a nt as a numbe r of riders were in position to claim the top spot if Hanno n made a mistake . He didn't and good thing, for Huskymounte d Tom Spurlo ck won his seventh enduro out of the last 14 he 's entered , sweepin g into second -place for the year. Spurloc k zeroed the course (two days, over 21 checks!) edging out Hanno n for the win by one second . And that's at th ree tiebreak ers! Talk about close . The other rider to zero the course was Team Honda membe r Jay Tullis on his MR ·175 (slightl y modifi ed) . Jerry edged out KTM rider Gordon Dicks on by just 20 points. Over 300 riders were on hand Saturda y mornin g as the first riders left Charlie 's Place, a favorite pit area for years past. The first loop was relatively easy but mileage errors on the second and third checks had the riders confus ed for awhile . Dust turned out to be a major problem as the trail tu rned to silt . Riders. knew they would be back over the same trail backwa rds on Sunday and weren't looking forward to it. . The second loop was conside rably harder than the first , much to the chagrin of the C riders, The loops (three each day) wer e laid out to be progres sively harder but most riders agreed the second loop was toughe r in terrain and speed average s . The CEA didn't figure on any zero scores; but also didn't figure on how pumpe d the riders were for this enduro . There were a who le bunch of zeros Saturd ay night leading to intense specu lation on who could win . Sunday 's route schedu le was studied very careful ly in hopes of figurin g out where the tough sections were . Riders with a good knowle dge of the country and a good memor y had a slight advanta ge. Mike Hanno n had the advanta ge of bli nding speed over the toughes t terrain. It didn't look like there was any section that could put . him down in points. His compet ition was hoping he'd . burn a check. He a lmost burnt one of the tiebreak ers, but manage d to trials-rid e in on time. Sunday's backwa rds course was indeed toughe r because of the extrem e dust in spots. It was tough mentall y also as the riders in content ion knew one little mistake would put them out of it . Last year's winner Tom Getzfri d was doing well until he broke a throttle cable on his TT·500 . The bike comes with a dual pull/pu ll system but unfortu nately for Tom the wrong one broke. He messed around with it for awhile and fina lly came up with a solution . He switche d ends on the carb o Howeve r th is made the throttle operate backwa rds. Instead of turning the throttle towards him, Tom now had to turn the throttle the opposit e wa y to make it work . Sound easy? No way. It's extrem ely awkwa rd. Tom made surprisi ngly good time, but ended up losing 53 points. Anothe r old enduro salt came ou t for Sunday only and ended up in the hospita l when he got off th e course and ended in a ditch, Motorc yclist Magaz ine editor Dave Ekins was testing a new Yamah a IT·175 when the mishap occured . Dave suffere d a severe concuss ion and some back problem s. When he woke up in Ridgec rest Hospita l he asked where he was. The nurse told him. "Again ?" was his reply. He 's been th ere before. ' Montes a team membe r Dave Evans stopped to help Ekins and lost almost an hour before continu ing on . Dave will receive a special Sportsm an trophy from the CEA for his unselfts h act and well dese rved too . Dave was in the top ten going into the enduro and gave up all chance of a good finish. Larry Woodr uff took a fine seventh overall, first B on his Yamah a TT500. Larry is trying awfully hard for the transfe r to A . He may have just made it. Anothe r B rider to sneak into the top ten was Bob Mandie (Yam 400) at tenth overall. First B 250 was M. Dawkin s (KT M) at 29th overall . For B riders it was a big bike course. First C honors went to T . Parker (410 Han) on his big four stroke. Parker droppe d 24 points - a fine ride on a tough C course (two loops each day). Last but not least a special mentio n to Doreen Po rtner who rode all three loops both days for first woman ho nors . Doreen will carry the Number One Women 's plate and has deserve d it. Doreen rides an XL-350 Honda , which probab ly outweig hs he r two to one. Inciden tly, Doreen would qualify for the new Senior Enduro Class next year so she ain't a spring chicken . She just rides like one. • LAST CHANCE: I .Tom Spurlock IHusl. 2. Mike Hannon (Bull, 3. Jay Tullis (Honl. 4. John Townsend IKTMI. 5_ Punk Wilson IKTMI. 6. Larry Langley IHon!. 7. Larry Woodruff IYam). 8. Gordon Oickson IKTM I. 9. Bob Steffan IBul). 10. 8 . Mandie. . 0 37 Enduro Standings: . . HEAVYWEIGHT: 1. Mike Hannon. 2. Tom Spurlock, 3. John Townsend . 4. Larry Langley, 5. Punk Wilson . U GHTWEIGHT: 1. Jay Tullis. 2. Jerry Counts. 3. Gordon Dickso 4. Don Nelson, 5. RonW ells. n,