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/126604
Terry Cunningham took his Husky Automatic to the overall win. Second in the sloppy conditions _nt to Ka_saki ' s Draw Smith. AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round two Cunningham rolls at Stone Mountain National By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Dale Brown and Skip Johnson WEST ARMUCHEE, GA, FEB . 18 T erry Cunningham rode his way " a u tomatically" to the overall win in the 25th An n u al Stone Mountain Nation al Enduro. Cunningh am, astride a Husqva rna 430 Au to m a tic, battled just over 100 miles of mud, a co ld, soaking mist and some to ugh trails cut out of the north Georgia mountains by the sponsoring Gerogia Crackers M.e. , to finish with 16 points lost. Second overall went to Drew Smith, riding for Kawasaki 's Team Green , with 19. 12 From second overa ll on, things got a bit muddy. Li terally. The mist, mud and plastic style scorecards used by the sponsoring club made reading the scores difficult, if not impossible in some cases. The club went to a back-up system for all riders. In addition, there were questions about two checks, and they were droppped . Unofficially, Husqvarna's Mike Melton edged Kawasaki's Fritz Kadlec on tie-breaker scores for third overall. Complete results will appear in next week's Results section. ..It was a very good run considering the problems I had," said Cunningham as he relaxed afterwards. "I got out of shape in one spot early in the run, and when I looked at my clock it wasn't working. I checked my back-up watch, and that had quit too. I hooked up with another rider for one section until I cou ld get (Dick) Burleson's watch, although it was set for his key time, and I had to re-calculate. At the start area gas, I got things fixed up, but then I made a couple of errors at re-sets which cost me a point or two. (Those checks were later thrown out.) In addition, I went down hard in a sweeper on a dirt road and rashed up my left elbow pretty good. Other than that, I loved the mud ." Drew Smith was savoring his second overa ll finish afterwards. Sm ith said, "I rode hard and did th e best I could. Maybe I could have shaved off a point o r two; I'm not sure. My only real problem was losin g my chain in the last section; that really bummed me out because I was flying." The over 300 starters got "their money's worth," according to almost everyone. However, mostdidn'texpeet to get paid back so soon. Fortunately, the club was out working until dark on Saturday rerouting approximately seven miles of early trail which was mostly under water due to a wetter than normal winter and heavy rain the two days before. That left a steep uphill section just 10 miles out followed by nearly a mile of single track, called "The Goat Path," to ruin the day for some. It was plug ahead and be pa tien t for most, but bottlenecks developed for some later numbers. "Why worry?" q ues tioned one weary, grime covered rider. "We've got nearly 100 miles to go, and th e fu n is j u st begi n ni ng." At h igher elevations, the mist hung like a cold, grey bla nket lending a n eerie q ua lity to the trai l and re ndering ri ders wit h glasses virtually bli nd. Goggles were also of litt le use. O n the paved sections, especially the nearly I0 miles to the gas at the starting area, the co ld bit to the bone. Those who plan ned ahead had a change of clo thing at the stop. T he key to finis h ing, accordi ng to m an y, was j ust t h an g in there because the cold an the strength-sapping mud were tak in g a toll. Spectators got to see a little ISDE style hustle when Mike Melton pull in for his gas a t the start area. I no-nonsense fashion, he replaced bot the front and rear brake shoes changed his clothes, l u b ed an adj usted his chain, other levers an cables and then zoomed off. Melto complained of feeling "a bi t ding after being run over by another rider. He had gone down in an early se tion, and the rider behind didn dodge in time. Rod Bush was another ri der wh was involved in an early acciden Bush smacked a tree hard a nd injure a shoulder and hand. H e retired . The " Downhill," as it is kno wn t the riders, didn't prove to be as spe tacular as last year. T he mud actuall seemed to slow th e bikes although steep as the h ill is, nothi ng is real slow. In a ll , it was a typical Stone Mo u tain National. The tra ils were g and ridable if you rode smart. Bolli necks were at a minimum and, usual , Mother Nature didn 't pi favorites with the Georgia Cracker