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/126509
IClockwlM from top lettl Seven-time National Enduro Chemp Dick Burleson got a good Btart on title number eight with an overall win. King Richard and third overall Grant Pelenake check the time. Ron Rlbolzl made hla KawaMkl debut. Rick Munyon led a group with Mven points Ioat. placing aecond overaD. AMA National Enduro Championship Series: Round one Burleson bests Chaparrals' Coyote Derby By Larry Langley Photos by Mark Heacox RED MOUNTAIN, CA, FEB. ~~ Seven-time National Enduro Champion Dick Burleson rode what he figured to be a top five finish in the opening round of the 1981 AMA National Enduro Championship series. Husqvarna-mounted Burleson, who is not particularly fond of the dod' ese~, r e a conse~auve rac,e (fOT him), but when his compeu- 10 tion made big mistakes (i.e" burning checks), Burleon was sitting all alone i~ a most fa?1ili~r p~ition, overall wmner, droppmg SIX points. At least three other riders had better special test scores than Burleson, but all fell to crOlllling the check flags early and it cost them dearly. Fellow Husky team member Rick Munyon would have been just five points down but ended up with seven, burning a check on the third loop. Rick even went back out and rerode the section with loop captain Jay Tullis. Tullis' speedometer read nght on and Munyon had to be content with second overall for the second year in a row for the young rider looking for his first overall win in National Enduro competition. District !ITs number one rider and Western Regional Champion Tom Webb also had five late points and had the best specw test scores, but Tom managm to burn two checks, dropping a total of nine points. Team Suzuki's Jeff Fredette dropped seven points for third AA, founh overall in a fine ride. Most of the other "Eastern" riders didn't adapt to the desen very well. Husky's Mike Melton was in the desen for the very first time and said he enjoyed it even though he didn't panicularly do well. Melton is the kind of rider who learns very quickly and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see him come back next year and do very well. Can-Am's Johnny Martin crashed hard and sprained his back and neck on the second loop. The three-loop enduro was challenging, even the nonnally "easy" first loop was tight, rocky and points were taken if any mistakes were made. Only a nine minute break between loops had riders hustliDK in to I{as up with little time to fix any problems that cropped up. The riders that were prepared had the advantage. The second loop staned out into what seemed miles of rock fields and tight canyons comhined with winding, tiring sand washes. The first two loops were zeroable with the better riders still on the big "0." The third loop was in the hills known to the locals as the "sand hill." The Chaprarrals traditionally have had their "special tests" to talte points away from everyone there and this year was no exception. The best scores were three and two for five down. Burleson liked the first test, it was tight with no high speed banzai terrain. The second was just the opposite, mostly fifth and sixth gear balls-to-the-walls desert rac· er special. Some riders got lost, including KTM's Kevin Davis who came back through an observation check and ended up putting three extra miles on his odometer at the next checkl John Fero also got lost and dropped a bunch of points. Jerry Counts of Countdown Engineering broke a sprocket on the second loop so he went out on the third loop to take some pictures in the special test. Jerry has some very interesting pictures of Tom Webb hung up on a rock . Tom still set fastest time so you can imagine how fast he was cooking. Larry Roeseler (Yam) was a ConseDlUl to challenge for the overall