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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126474
John Martin: Can-Am's enduro ammunition By Ann Palormo Photo by Brian Palormo When you bea t out Dick Bu rleson and Drew Smith for overall honors at two consecutive National Championship Enduros, people 32 quickly take notice and begin to speculate on wnat kmd of future you have. Could you be the one - the one who will put an end to the Burleson Championship winni ng streak? That was the kind of a ttention CanAm's J ohn Martin attracted in the fall of '79 when he too k top hon ors a t The Indian Creek Na t ional in ' Sout h Carolina and th e top -rated Bla ck Coal National in southern Indiana . Martin had been arou nd the enduro circuit for two years before this , ca ptu ri ng th e Minnesota State Championship in 1978 a nd winning. another overall a nd an occasional class win or two earlier in the '79 season. H is "overnight" success was truthfully the result of some sixteen yea rs of local competition in a variet y of dirt events in his home state of Minnesota . At age 24 he has tri ed his hand at hill climbs , hare scra m b les. MX . trials and Two-Day Qualifiers as well as enduros. His ea rliest partners on the tra il were his dad and two brothers and two sisters. Winning th e stat e cha m pionship brought him limited sponsorship from Can -Am and his 1979 record netted him a full -time position with th e company. Two of his responsibilities will be to compete at all National Enduros and Two-Day Reliability Trials and to qualify for the ISDT. His goal for himself is to be successful in his quest for the National Enduro Championship . if not in 1980 , definitely before he gives up active enduro competition. It was Martin's speed over a long. tight woods section at the Black Coal that blew people's minds last season. He had a time four minutes faster than Smith and seven fast er than Burleson. His compact size on a 250 Can-Am seemed to encourage the machine to fly. His intense pace can spell success or occasionally disaster when he fails to ca tch sight of a tum a rrow among the blurred trail markings as he roars by. Sustain ing such a pace may be difficult to do consisten tly over an entire season. Only time will tell. Martin has one trump ca rd missing from several other AA rider's hands for th e 1980 season. He has bee n actively involved in the staging of all types of dirt events. This helps him know what go cs into proper ch eck placement. It also causes him to voice concern for th e quality control. at National events. With the reduction in numbers, ea ch event doubles in importance. Low ca liber Nationals (as ha s been the case m or e than once befor e) cou ld turn a pot en tiall y tight cha m pionshi p ra ce in to a farce . Mart in woul d like to see th e AMA send a representat ive to a ll Na tio na ls to preview layout a nd plans for check placem ent. In years past AI Eames a ttended several. if not a ll. events, offeri ng suggestions ai med at keep ing the ru ns difficul t enough to cha llenge th e more skilled riders wit ho u t dcstroying th e rest of the entrants or their mach ines . If th e title is goi ng to conti nue to mea n anyth ing , Martin feels th is kind of control is important . His personal choice would be t he m aster checkplacer hi mse lf, J erry Schuler of Black Coal fam e. Martin has one of t he longer commuting distances to events, but he ha s learned that this road time is valuable for mental prepara tion . He passes the time reviewing enduro timekeeping tables - when he isn't keeping an eye out for smokies. Martin's intense drive to get to the top of the enduro ladder ( he advanced to th e 5th rung and earned AA honors in last year's efforts in National competition) does not mean he is never able to relax and enjoy the weekend's activities. However, he is more relaxed Sunday afternoon when everything is behind him . Roll out the pizza or pop corn; put on some Bee Gees m usic and he might even forget a ll abou t motorcycling for an hou r or two . ' •