Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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>. :s -, Referee Jerry Coun1lIlIeftJ presents Sanford with the winner'. trophy. Sanford wins TuffE'Nuff National Enduro By Sylvester Bogard KELSO VALLEY, CA, JUNE 24 Team Maico's Don Sanford won the United Enduro Association's Tuff E'Nuff National Enduro, dropping 12 points and edging out Team Honda's Rick Munyon by a three point margin. Sanford was mounted on a 400 Magnum while Munyo~ was aboard his factory XR250 four-stroke. This overall went to (Above) Teem Honda'. Rick Munyon was just three points off SlInford'. score. (Below) Kawasekl'. Mike H...-. was third In the AA cIasa. 20 Kawasaki-sponsored Mike Hannon on hisKDX400. The Tuff E'Nuff has been one of District 57's more challenging enduros for a number of years but this year's event was its first run wader a National Championship sanction. A conflicting National- Enduro in Minnesota held down the number of AA riders but a strong field was present, along with all ' of Di$trict 57's top riders who were challenged by a contingent of District 56 riders from nonhem California in a special team challenge. District 57 came out on top and took home a special trophy. Pits were located in Kelso Valley South of Lake Isabella, while most of the course was run in the Piute Mountains section of the Sequoia NatioJaI Forest, ~uite a change for the desen·oriented District 57 riders. The 120 mile evedt route sheet eontained another unfamiliar item for local riders: tum mileages. Referee Jerry Counts followed the AMA rule book to the letter in an effon to try and standardize National Enduros. While tum mileage would be just about· impossible for a desen enduro, it is panicularly suited for a forest enduro. Riders pouring over their schedule couldn't miss the 24 mph sections followed by resets on the order of 15· 20 minutes long which indicated special test sections. Club officials were confidently predicting a loss of at least 10 points for the overall winner and they were very close. AA riders were placed on a minute all by themselves every other minute staning at number 20. To make it fair for the A riders who didn't draw a number in between the Double A's, UEA drew them every other minute.· B riders drew every minute staning on minute 60. C riders and women rode a shonened course of a bit less than 50 miles. The UEA had planned on starting riders up Kelso Creek on private propeny but a genuine bird watcher objected and the club instead ran the stan up Kelso Valley Road for four miles where the course turned off, rode up a trail commonly referred to as the "Cabin Trail" which was located on BLM land, not in the National Forest. The BLM had turned down UEA's first request for pennission to use the trail instead of the county road up into the forest. However, after intervention by the Legal Defense Fund, the BLM.let the Forest Service handle the pennission procedure for the section. Score a victory for off road users. The trail is used by play riders constantly on weekends anyway. A moderate 18 mph average up the trail had many of the A riders early at the fmt check just before the trail came out on the road. The next check caught three of District 57's number one riders early as it was located just around a hairpin tum on a road just before a speed change to 24 mph which most riders had figUred for a special test. Harry Keast (Mai), number one Senior, Mike Adams (Mai), number' one 250cc and Jay Tullis (Hon), number one 200cc all took a two-point penalty for being a minute early. Since the section ahead wa.s a special test, it gave an early indication on who looked good. Mike Hannon (Kaw) just missed being only one minute late as he hit the checkout a scant two seconds into his second minute to lead the way. Most of the AA riders were also two minutes late but well into their second minute. Since the waiting check was a tie-breaker, it was easy to measure e.xactly bow everyone did. If a checlc. isn't a tie-breaker, then a person wh9 arrives 59 seconds into a minute gets the same score as a rider who arrives just one second into his minute. A IS·minute reset aUowed riders to