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Jack Penton (left) and Terry Cunningham each had four points. but Cunningham took the overall on tiebreaker points. (File photos. ) AMA National Championship Enduro Series: Round five Cunningham lucky winner at Fool's Gold National By Jim Bowman GEO RGETOWN , CA, MAY 9 Team Husqvarna 's Terry Cunningham emerged a winner among close competition at today's Fool's Gold National Enduro. For Cunningham, who suffered an early setback in th e event. the win di dn ' t seem possible until the very end of the run. For a ll 402 riders, the l25-m il e. six-hour end uro w ill definitely be one 10 remem ber. T he start of the event was on a ro lli ng trai l that weaved th rough some tight trees a n d then led bac k around the ca m p ing area. It was a fter this section, just p ast th e five m ile speedo chec k. th a t th e firs t secret chec k was p laced . T his surprise check, loca ted so close to th e start. ca ugh t ma ny rid ers ru n ni ng ho t, in cludin g C un ningham . The second chec k was a lso tricky a nd ca ugh t its own sha re of rid ers traveling a hea d of time. Check two was set on a steep , roc ky downh ill th at led to a stream crossing. In years past. th e steep swi tch backs th at led up from th is strea m crossing have not onl y slowed rid ers but also ca used bottlenecks . As with many of th e other riders , D-36 end uro _ _ ace Dave Bertram didn't expect th is 10 chec k a nd a lmost burned it. Bert ra m said, " In th is case, it yo u kn ew th e terra in. you were a t a disadvantage. " As it was, a reset pas t this sect ion redu ced th e pe nalty o f p o tenti al bottlen ecks. T he terra in used between chec k two a nd gas was typical o f th a t used all day lon g. The riders were ei ther on smooth Iireroad, or m ore often, o n trai l th at ro lle d u p and down th e sha ded hills of the Eldo ra do Nat ional For est. Specia l test sections ca lled [or the a bili ty of th e rider to ge t through de nse patches o f you ng trees or maintain speed over rocky terrai n a nd twi sting trail. All total , th ere was almost 50 minutes of free time added to gi ve th e rider a rest an d allow th e C riders to get back o n time. When as ked how th e terrain co m par ed to tha t in the res t of th e U,S., Cunningham sa id th at the tigh t sections were as ti ght as those he wa s used to back east. T eam Suzuki rider John Fero agreed an d added, " [bu t] the brush here doesn 't giv e as much whe n you rid e th rough it. " Indeed , the brush was tight a nd un for gi vin g. Referee Cliff G lidden sai d, " A lot o f A a n d AA ri ders sent spare jerseys o ut to the gas ch eck a nd fi nished th e .event with both jers eys in sh reds ." The special test bet ween gas o ne and gas two co st ma ny riders a few points, but th e test of th e day, [or th A and AA riders, was in th e last 25 miles. With a score o f zero , Mark H yde look ed 10 be th e winner , Cunn in gham was hurting because o f th e two poi nts he'd ga ined when he burned the first check. La ter, Cu n ni ngha m said, " I was hopi ng that th e 28 mph sectio n wo u ld be ro ugh. My o n ly hope was th at th e sect io n would turn into a race," Luck was with C u n n ingham as he rod e the last spec ia l test section. H e lost on ly two points, and des p ite th e poi nts h e'd p icked up a t th e fir st ch eck, th at was good eno ugh to win . H yde, o n th e o the r hand, wasn 't as fortunat e. H e managed to rind th e o n ly m ud h ol e o n th e co u rse and go t st uc k. H yde gai ned o n ly four points, bu t both Cunningham an d T eam Kawasak i's J ack Penton a lso h ad [our p oints. When th e ti ebreak er points were talli ed , H yde took third overa ll beh i nd Penton. Th ere wer e a num ber o f ti es in the top20, but fortunat ely a ll were broken by secon ds accu m u lated , Fero placed fourth ahead of the top A and Open A rider Bertram by just three seconds. Mike Melton [rom Team Husky placed sixth over local Honda sup- port rider j eff Irwin a nd Kawasaki 's Fr itz Kadl ec. Top 250cc A rider J ef[ H enning o n a KTM and Husk y support rider Kevin Hines ro u nded ou t th e top 10. Positions in th e lOp 20 were awa rded 10 a ll A an d AA riders with 15.862 po ints o r less. As with most lon g endu ros , th e time a nd di stance took its toll on equipment. Ka wa sak i teammat es Drew Smi th a n d Kadl ec both h ad th eir sha re of p ro blems. Smith 's bike qu it on him , a nd Kadl ec's enduro clock went on the £ritz. Kadlec th en lo st hi s wa tch, burn ed two checks a nd still managed 10 tak e eig h th overa ll. Suzu ki 's j eff Freddette a lso su ffered when hi s clock quit, a nd Dirt Bik e's Tom Webb cras hed a nd brok e hi s speedo; Fredette pl aced l l th , Webb 16th. J ack Penton 's op ini o n o f tod a y's even t wa s th e same as almost every ot h er rider. Penton sai d, "T h is is a ni ce place to ride. It wa s a go od event . a nd th e dust wasn 't bad." H at s off to th e Ca lifo rnia Endu ro Rider 's Associa tio n who pu t o n thi s event. It is a rare [arm o f success in end uro plann ing th at draw s co m ments like thi s [rom a ll of th e riders. • Results OVERALL: 1. Terry Cunningham (Hus). 2. Jack Penton (Kaw ); 3 . Mark Hyde (Hus); 4 . John Fero (Suzt; 5. Dave Benram (Hus); 6. Mike Melton (Hus); 7. Jeff Irwin (Han) ; 8. Fr ~z Kadlec (Kawl; 9 . Jeff Henning (KTM); 10. Kev in Hines (Hus); 11. Jeff Fredette (Suzt ; 12. Jim Wilson (Yam); 13 . John M iller (Hus); 14 . John Haakar (KTM) ; 15 . John Martin (C·A) ; 16. Tom Webb (Ma i); 17. Man Cullins (Yaml; 18. AI Cleaveland; 19 . Grant Palenske ; 20 . John Hearne (KTM).