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/126525
I e two polnu aheed of teamm ate Dick Burlao n (top Mike Melton (top left) took hie Huaky 2&OWR to the ov. .11 win. . con_ by doing both raguIIr and noM wh... .. rIghtt on a pOlDty pe 'IZ 430."'" F1ecIe_laboveJ won the wil... A.A Natio nal Chamlll.onshill. Enduro SerIes: Rou ndS Me lto n edges Burleson in Redneck National By Denman Shaffer SALIN E, LA, MAY 51 24 Mike Mel ton show ed he still know~ how to rom p thro ugh the sout hern pine y woo ds as he rode his Hus qvar na WR 250 to a 15 poin t loss to claim the overall win at the Dusty Whe els Melton with a sly smile. He had pre· dieted he would take overall before 1he event. "I was hoping I could win because it sure feels good to come out on top. I feel , might be making Dick think a bit. Melton liked the event, '" continu ed, "becau se it was one where there was plenty of fast woods riding and you got to do a bit of racing with the other riders. The trail riding counts in an enduro and I like that. At the Two·D ay Qualifi ers you just zip from check to check." The Shreve port based Dusty Wheels laid out and conduc ted an outstan ding event which was truly of nationa l champi onship caliber . The club's second nationa l in three years drew 542 riders from through out the U.S. 114 miles in actual length, but 100% rideabl e the run twisted and turned tluough out the Saline area before meande ring up to Kepler Lake and Bienville. some 20 miles north of the start. Trails for the event were in top conditi on after some 8-10 inches of rain during May and scattere d shower s on various parts of the course both Saturda y and Sunday . The moist soil turned several parts of the course that passed through old wateme lon fields into bike swallow ing whoop· de·doos with beautif ul loamy berms formin g up in the woods sections . Club membe rs had diligen tly worked to bring the cries of the AA Nation al riders that many of the runs are too easy to a halt by adding numero us tight woods sections of various lengths . The entire event was run at a 24 mph average . Freque nt resets brough t most A and faster B riders back on, or close to, schedu le before the club socked it to them again. Trails were well trimme d and markin g was excelle nt. Also judged excelle nt was check·p laceme nt, as the club timed the riders into and out of the test section s with restarts and secret checks, then allowed them to catch up (maybe ) with resets. A single gas stop 43 miles out on the first loop and 41 out on the second, served the entire course. The club allowed all riders to have gas availab le at two points on the course and announ ced the location s at the riders meeting . Despite being well within AMA limits, a numbe r of riders ran dry on one or both loops. Particu larly hard hit were riders on gas guzzlin g open bikes and modifie d MX bikes. The physical demand s of a 114 mile Nationa l level course in the typically hot and humit Deep South were more than the majorit y of riders were prepare d for. Highwa ys betwee n the gas stop and the campgr ounds were filled with a steady process ion of riders who had decided they had all the enduro riding they needed well before the end of the course. Just under half the field earned the coveted pewter belt buckle finish .. r award. Team had Husky and Team Suzuki apparen tly done their homew ork the best. as they were both able to finish all their riders in the top 20. Kawasa ki's Jack Penton . Mark Hyde and Ron Ribolzi also scored poinls. Bad luck fell heavily on the KTM team (Frank Gallo, Darryl Keunze r and Kevin LaVoie ), as none of the three finished the run. The Melton /Burles on duel for overall was a dogfigh t from the start, with Burleso n having a minor kickstarter problem in the first tight woods section and losing five points as Melton and the other top riders droppe d only four. A 16 mile section following the second gas stop saw King Richard really get down 10 busines s as he pulled even with Melton by recordi ng the only two point loss of the day. Melton 's loss of three also stood alone. A course adjustm ent due to an inad· vertent crossin g of private propert y