Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ D- k ]\urlesOn: e Ie. CN 00 O"l ..... Eight is enough By Gary Van Voorhis Dick Burleson had a right to be nervous as he waited for his number to come up at the start of the final round of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series on November 8 near Tulsa, Oklahoma, What he had begun in' 1974 was now culminating with Burleson's hopes of an eighth consecutive ~6., record breaking title on the line. Some titles came "easy," some, Burleson admits, he has had to work a bit for. And this year's title chase? It began like most of the rest .. Burleson won the opening National and was cruising along. Only he had to keep looking over his shoulder because Husqvarna teammate Mike Melton was making a run at him while Terry Cunningham, the third member" of Team Husky's enduro/Two· Day Qualifier team, wasn't even in the ballpark after the first five rounds. Then something happened and Cunnin~ham literally caught fire. postin~ four wins and two second place finishes in the next six rounds. Burleson had not one, but two adversaries gunning for him. Cunningham was ready to nail Burleson's hide to the wall and Melton, even though plagued with a bit of bad luck at the worst possible time, wasn't about to let Burleson off the hook either. Because the championship is decided on a rider's 10 best rides In the 12 event series, there were a . number of combinations of finishes among the three in the final event which could cost Burleson the title, He could even lose on a tie to Cunning· ham or Melton because both had more National wins than he did. The bottom, the only line for Burleson, was to finish at least second overall. That way no matter what anyone else did, the title was his. Cunningham took his fi[th win, but Burleson was second despite "rookie" mistakes along the way which cost him points and which he chalked up to being "just a bit nervous." The final points show Burleson winning the title by a scant two points .. 252 to 250 -- over Cunningham: with Melton third at 228_ No one else was even close to the leading trio. "I guess you could say I'm glad it's over." said Burleson of the season. "The pressure started at the beginning of the series. I found myself more conscious than I have ever been before of focusing on winning the championship. I would say that in the past seven years I was leaning much more toward just winning Nationals. If I did that and did it well then the championship just kind of came along. The end result this year was I was more consistent and played it safe so I could go the whole season without a major goofup of some sort. I wasn't trying to win races as hard as I was the champion· ship. I didn't plan on getting a lot (six) of second place finishes and I really would have liked to have won more than two Nationals, but that's the way things fell into place. "I knew we were working up to a battle at tl\e end of the season because my throwaways .. the two rides you don't count .. were a seventh and a fowttt ",Jijlf .l:~ttt.1l44.1fi\eI\a.d so{tl,t. bad finishes to get rid of. Looking at the total points was deceiving because I really wasn't in a strong position going into the final round although it looked like it. I was actually at a disadvantage strategy-wise." Burleson has long been known as a foul weather rider. He likes th~ rain, mud and slop. It was raining when he awoke in Oklahoma and Burleson says he smiled when he realized the fact. "I like to ride in rotten weather because I know I can do good in it. Terry is also a bad weather rider where Mike is more of a dry, hard-packed ground rider .. the storm worked against him. I think the weather helped me. If it had been dry there· would have been that many more chances for somebody to play spoiler and bump me to third (overall). That's all it would have taken and I would have been in deep trouble." Talk about the recent IS DE in Italy to Burleson and you won't find much enthusiasm. He didn't enjoy it one bi•. "The event was nothing but a motocross. I'm a trail rider and the event didn't suit me one bit. Consequently, I got blown away .. badly .. although I did enjoy riding the onetwo-five and did get a gold medal. The intent was to ride a bit cautious and do as well as I could without taking too much risk. I rode with the championship on my mind," There is a certain satisfaction to be gained from doing something and doing it very well. Burleson's accomplishment is hard to downplay in light of his domination for eight seasons. "I don't know if I've really grasped what winning the title eight straight times really means. I have people asking me if I understand just how big a feat it is and I really don't know what to say. I don't look at it that way. I did the best I could for as long as I could and that's that. I'm not really an egotrip type person, but, yes, I do feel a real sense of accomplishment." Until Burleson came along Bill Baird was the king of the hill with his seven consecutive (1962-68) National titles. Burleson had met Baird a few times and had talked to him, mostly during AMA competition congress meetings. He had also ridden events that'Baird and the club he belongs to, the Rock River Riders in Illinois, had put on. "I guess you could say we're casual friends. I belie.ve Baird respects me as a person and a racer and I believe he felt if anyone was going to break his record then I was basically a good choice, I don't think he'll resent me for breaking his record although he probably would rather have seen it not broken. ''I'd have to say I don't really see anybody winning the title nine straight years although, as they say, records are made to be broken. The machinery and riders are just too much more sophisticated now than during Baird's reign, although that may have been exactly the same line of thinking when he won his seventh, I don't know," Probably the biggest question on the minds of Burleson's friends, fans and oth.er competitors is whether King Richard will try for nine. Burleson was a bit reluctant to come out and say that he wouldn't hit the National circuit next year .. but he did. "I wcm't be contesting the series, One of the reasons I kept riding was because I wanted to be sure when I stopped chasing tlte title that other Husqvarna riders would be right in there, I think we're at that crossroads right now, Terry and Mike are so good that when I'm out we'll still be winning. That's a pretty good reason to bow out. ''I'll be spending more time being involved in research and development on what we sell here in the U.S, With· out the pressure of having to contest the championship I can have more time to experiment when I race, I will also be involved much more closely with the home office in Sweden on basically R&D matters .. if you're racing full time you just can't do that. I should also have time to do a little fun racing in some areas where I just haven't had the time to race before, I'm not quitting, I'm just changing directions, "I haven't made up my mind yet as to whether I'll do the ISDE Qualifiers, I'm leaning in that direction because the event will be in Czechoslovakia and, having been there in 1977, I know just what type of event it will be, The Czechs will throw trail, trail and more trail at the riders, I could really get pumped about that." Will Burleson miss not hitting the National circuit next year gunning for another title? "I'll probably miss it. However, chances are if I did try for a ninth title I wouldn't win anyway. Things are tough out there, Those youngsters have no respect for their elders, no respect at all," •

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