Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mike Melton. two minutes late at this check. gets some encouragement from his mother (right) before head ing int o another tight woods sect io n . . AMA National Cham~ionshi~ Enduro Series: Round Z Sandlapper win to Melton By Gary Van Voorhis Phot os by Da n McCauley & Van Voorh is P ELION , SC, FEB . 28 Team Husq varna 's Mike Melton collected his second National Championship Enduro overall victory in as many weekends by putting in a superb ride in the Columbia Enduro R iders hosted Sandlapper 100. Melton, fresh from his win in th e open. . d I Californi mg senes roun In I orrua, began th e day .strong and never 10 let up. Defending National Champion a nd Husqvarna teammate, T erry Cunningham, took second o vera ll despite rid in g with a broken righ t thumb, and lopped th e Open AA ranks with a score o f 20-a full six p oints o ff Melton's winning 14. Cu n ni ngham was th e top dog in a four-way tie a t 20 poin ts wi th Kevin Hines. rid in g under Husq varn a 's su pport p ro gram, at th ird overa ll a nd second in th e Open AA ra nks; rou rth overall fin isher, J eff Fr<:dette, p ick<:d up th e 200cc AA class Will a boa rd h is '] ones/Metzeler/Kawasaki KDX 200. H e was rhe only rider in th e class. Rounding o u t th e top five and th e fourth rider in th e 20 point grouping wa s Drew Sm ith astride hi s privately entered KTM. Of not e, was th e Kaw asak i m ounted effort o f Cl ay Stuckey, who p icked u p Hi gh P o int A class honors a nd six th in th e overa ll sta ndi ngs. Stuckey, a stro ng So ut heas tern Enduro & Trail Riders Associ ation (SE&T R A) co m petitor dr opped 23 p o ints and wed ged h imself clea nly into th e fina l sta ndi ngs with a very. st~~~g; ~i?~ .• . . " " , ' ", . -_. relating a ha rd luck story . " I got stuck in a mud bog a nd nea rly buried the bike." sa id Kuenzer, " O nce I go t free a nd back o n th e trail I bega n having cha in p ro blems . The cha in jumped off th e sprocket th ree tim es befor e 1 go t it fixed for good. T he resu lt was 16 poi nts 10SI in the sectio n a nd that shot my d ay. bu t good. " Ma ico su pport p rogram rider Robin Moore, the Women 's class wi n ner.Iost 51 min u tes and o ver 100 points in thai sec tion. Approximatel y 100 o f th e sta rters didn 't finish . Maico 's J ohn Fero, who finished seco nd o vera ll in the Ca liforn ia round , was a 14 po int victim o f the first ti gh t sectio n. H andling p roblems and a hard cras h o ver the h and lebars, ca u sed ap parent ly by a rew orki ng of th e si ng le shock unit o n h is mount, left Fero with a look o f gri m determination through o ut th e day . H e was on the road h eaded hom e so o n a fter he finished. . John Martin, Ca n-Am 's factory rid er, was m ore th an a bit d isappointed. " I had things reall y going -stro ng in the woods sections and Mike (Melton) a nd 1 rode dead even in a co u p le. However, 1 bl ew it a t o ne check when 1 hit it ear ly. The sco rers had me down for two minutes, but 1 th ought 1 was only o ne minute early. T he five points 1 go t fo r that seco nd ear ly m inute co st me seco nd o veral l. That 's th e breaks." • One rider very happy with his ride was Hines. " I' m still learning how to keep time," said Hines after th e fin ish . " Fritz (Kadlec) g ave m e a few tips this weekend a nd th ey worked. At last week's Natio nal, 1 hit lWO chec ks in a row very ear ly a nd th at COSI m e a ny chance o f a good fini sh. This is only my seco nd season riding en du ros ; I'm ca tch ing o n." The event was co -sanctioned by SE&T RA a nd the ra n ks were well represented with Ji m m y G armon , 12th overa ll. add ing to Stuckey's H igh Po int A a nd sixt h o vera ll p lac ing. " I th ink we m ade a heck o f a show ing toda y." said Stuckey. " II was a to ug h run which required a lot o f co nce ntra tion in the woods o r yo u co u ld gel in to big trouble." " It a lways feelS good 10 w in, especia lly w he n it 's a to ugh event." said Melto n before th e a wa rds pr esentatio n . " W ha t rea IIv m ak es it n ice is tha t my m om a nd dad plus m y g ir l friend. Ro bin, were here. T ha t ma kes it d o uble n ice." • The sponsoring Columbia End uro Riders p u t together wh at ma n y rid ers ca lled a well p la n ned even t. T he 110 trai l m iles wo u nd th rough scrub pi ne, swa m pla nd a nd sa ndy co u ntryside su rResults rounding th e cen tra l So ut h Ca ro lina OVERA LL: 1. M ike M elton (HusI14: 2. Terry Cunning ha m (Hus ) 20; 3. Kevin Hin es (Hus) 20 ; 4 . Jeff sta rt ing a rea. Tight trai ls were the Freden e IKaw120; 5. Drew Sm ith IKTMI20; 6 . Clay name o f the game wit h bash ed ha nds Stuck ey (Kaw) 23; 7. J ohn M a"in (C-A ) 24 ; B. Fri tz Kadlec IKaw) 24 ; 9 . Rick Scha rphorn (Hus) 24 ; 10. a nd lorn riding jerseys a nd jackets Ron Ribol zi (HusI 25; 11. David Bert ram (Hust 25: 12. p ro vid in g mute evidence 10 numerous Ji m my Gar m on (Hus) 25 . HIGH POINT A : Clay Stucl:':~:4'.;;.'..~..l,l~. . ..~..-r....... ..

• Cover