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/126818
Dave Bertram scored two points in his ride to second overall. Terry Cunningham was the onl y single -point scorer as he won the Ca l Poly Penguins' Hi-Mountain enduro . Can-Am 's John Martin was in a three-way tie for third. but was awarded f ifth on tiebreaker scores. AMA National Enduro Champion'ship Series: Round 3 Husky sweeps 'Hi-Mountain By Larry Langley POZO, CA, APR. 21 T eam Husky rider T erry Cunningham dropp ed just a solitary point to win the 35 th Annual Hi-Mountain N ational Enduro in what most of th e AA ridersdescribed as a very easy National even t. Cunningham rode hi s 500AE . H k h a~tomali C: us y to ano~ er Win on his wa y to a possible 36 second Nat ional Championship. H e edged teammat e Dave Bertram , (also on a automa tic ) wh o was th e on ly rider to lose two points. A tota l o f 500 riders, incl udi ng nine AA men were entered. The AA, A a n d B riders ro de tw o lo o p s o f a pprox im at el y 110 miles whi le the C riders had th eir own 75-mile loop. Th e Hi-Mountain Enduro is p ro rnot ed by th e Cal Poly Penguins, a stude n t body motorcycl e club from Ca l Pol y Sa n Luis Obispo co llege . Si nc e the club is a schoo l-oriented cl u b. th e membership turns over every few years an d the club has to train new members o n how to pu t o n a n end u ro . The membership is ded ica red a nd ent h usiastic bur lacking in e n d u ro p rom oti on al ex per ie nce. especia lly a t th e Nat ional level. Des- · pite so me shortcom ings (mostly with la ck of points being taken away from t~ e to p ri de rs). m ost of th e ri de rs hke~ th e event. Riders awoke ea rly Su nday to a stea dy light drizzle. It was welc omed since th e area had been ver y dry a nd th e trail s wer e ex treme ly dust y due to th e lack o f rain . Eno ugh rai n fell S unday m orning to keep th e dust do wn . yet it was light enough not to rea lly bo ther th e riders, except for some goggle fogging . T he end uro was h eld in th e coasta l mount ains abo ve Sa n Luis Obisp o . T errain was most ly goa t tra ils, fir e break s and powerline roads wi th some pavement th rown in to co n nect sections, Wh at was lack in g was so m e sa fe, tight terrain for a good, lo w speed , sp ecial test . Runner up Bertram stat ed : "T he terra in was fun but it wa s to o wid e open . Th ere wasn 't enoug h technical ter rain ." Most. of th e AA rid ers ag reed . Bu t th e Cal Pol y Pen gui ns arc limit ed by restrain ts im p osed by the U.S. For est Ser vice o n what trails they ca n use. "T h e 'co u rse was well marked ," sa id Cunningham. " I o n ly overshot o ne turn a ll day long a nd th at was to wa rd th e end o f th e race." Third overa ll went to La rrv R oeseler on a fo ur-s troke Husk y: R oe seler drop p ed three points as did J eff Irw in (H u s) a n d Ca n -Am 's J ohn Mart in . but Roeseler had th e best tiebrea ker sco res a t th e four eme rge ncy ch ecks. Husqvarna swep t th e top fo u r posi tions a nd six ou t of the top 10. . First A rid er was so u thern Ca liforni a rid er Bi ll Fullmer Jr. ( KT M) in at sevent h overa ll to edge Ro bb Mesecher ( H o n / Du ra lu be) and Scott Sampson (H o n / Dura lu be). First Open A wa s Morill Griffith (KT M) at 11th overall. Roeseler's partner in the Las Vegas -1 00, Kurt P feiffer, had his ride come to an a bru p t en d right on the starting line wh en a ring stuc k on his 250XC Husk y. An other early casualt y ~a s D-37 endu ro stewa rd Art Moore who des troved th e rear brak e assem blv on . h is YZ250 Yamah a before the 'first check. H e decided to limp back to ca m p rather than risk the downhill s without a brake. T he first loop was di saster for many o f the AA rid ers as th ey encountered burn-a-ch eck, cos ting th em extra points fo r being j ust a bit early. T eam Hu sky rid er Kevin H in es wa s a scant tw o seconds ea rly to th e second check costing him two unnecessa ry points. " I don 't kn ow what happened . I th ought I wa s right on but there it _ was. I tried to scru b off en o ug h seconds but just mi ssed it," said Hines. While th e AA a nd A riders made it th rough th e fir st loop without difficu lrv.jh e B riders managed to bottleneck a t two different uphills and many riders dropped a bunch of poin ts in the del a y gelling through. Man y houred-out including D-37 number o ne Women's rid er Dan a Bell (H us) a nd Ca ndy H and (Ya m) . " We got off ou r bikes to help clear out the bouleneck a nd a lot o f m en j ust sat there a n d watched, " said Bell. " By the time we got through, we were o ut of our hour. " Senior A rider Dave H urch in s (H a n ) had a no th er problem. H e crashed off a goat tra il down a ca nyo n a nd spent a good 45 minutes working h is way back up to the trail. While unhurt, hi s bik e su ffered en o ug h damage to ca use aDNF later. The second loop al so con ta ined a very narrow a nd trea cherous goat trail and Arizona rid er William Chambers fell victim when a rider sto p ped in front o f him a nd he bounced his wa y down into a very steep ca n yon . . H e tried but co u ld not ge t his Yamaha back up to th e trail until help arrived. It took three people to finally muscle h is bik e out, Meanwhile Bertram was seen on th e side o f th e trail with h is leathers dow n wash ing a certa in sensitive spot o f his a na to my wi th water. It seems' he gas ca p didn 't get tightened at the gas sto p a nd premix sloshed onto h is crotch a rea ca us in g a bit o f grief. It didn 't cos t him a n y points, thou gh. G arner Pal en sk e, a 200cc A rider, was really upset a t the fin ish . There was a sectio n called th e " steps," a very gnarly uphi ll th a t even the A riders had probl ems maki ng up. It was located right aft er a gas stop wh ere the club had given the riders a free 20 minutes. Since there ca n no t be a check for three mi les after a gas stop, the club figured the riders would use that 20 minutes to work their way up the steps. Pal en ske (and a few other riders) forgot about th e th reemile rule and sa t a t the gas stop for the 20 minutes (fig u ring there was going to be a check ) before leaving and then lost a lot of time gelling through the sectio n. The Penguins figur ed th at the second loop would take away more points, but most of th e AA riders and even som e of th e top A riders zeroed the loop. KTM service m anager Mike R osso ca me O U I for th e event but DNF with a suspected igniiion failure. Hines had more problems when his Husky wou ldn 't res ta rt a fter he stopped on the trail. He finall y got going about five m inutes down. Dave Chase decided to ride a n event instead of pitting for -his fell ow Husky team members and entered as a B rider. H e finished a nd said he dropped a lot. o f points but enjoyed th e rid e. _ Unofficial Results . (Only results available at· press time) 1. Terry Cunn ingham (Hus) 1; 2. Dave Bert ram (Hus) 2; 3. Larry Roeseler (Hus) 3; 4 .Jeff Irwin (Hus) 3; 5. John M artin (C·A) 3; 6. Fritz Kadlec (Hus) 6; 7. Bill Fullmer Jr . (KTM) 6; 8. Robb Mesecher (Hon) 7; 9 . Scott Sa m pso n CHon) 8; 10. D uke Lambe rt CHus) 10; 11. M orill Griffrth (KTM ) 10 .