Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Husqvarna's Dave Bertram carded a 28-point loss at the Little Polecat National Enduro. Bertram t ied on points w ith Kev in Hines. bu t won the run via his better score on the tiebreaker. AMA/RK Chain National Championship Enduro Series: Round 3 Bertram edges Hines at Little Polecat By Mike Larson TWAIN HARTE, CA., MAY 3 H u sqvarna 's Dave Bertram survived an engine seizure an d having to push his bike one mile into the last check to squ ea k o ut the overall victory at the 10th Annual Li ttle 6 Polecat National Enduro. , id Bertram s perseverance l?aI off. as h~ dropped only e~ght por n ts In the las t section, desp ite th e seizu re. H in es dropped th e .Iowest point total 1!1 th e final sectio n - on ly four pomts - but he and Bertram both po sted a 28point loss for' the entire run. Bertram had th e better total on th e tie brea ker, which ga ve him th e overa ll win . The event was held in th e Sta n islaus National Forest a nd a lat e-week rain m ad e th e loo-m ile run a lmost dust-free. The Merced Dirt Riders orga nized th e run a nd club officia ls sai d th at th ey had close to th e limit o f 500 entries. All resul ts a re unof ficia l - the ' fi n a l results were unavail able a t press time. . The Little Pol ecat also saw th e return to com petition ofT eam Husqvarna's T er ry Cunningham. The three-time National Champion had mi ssed th e fir st two rounds of the series whi le recuperating from a presea so n kn ee injury. Cunningham turned in a ninth place performance, dropping 48 ·points. Bertram stru ggled to push his bike into th e final ch eckp oint and wa s nearly exha usted wh en he m ad e it in. After the run, Bertram was happy with his victory. " It got close there at th e en d," said Bertram. "My bike seized a bo u t a mile from the fin ish, so I had to push it in . I dropped eig h t points th ere wh ere Kevin onl y dropped four. I was lu ck y to have eno ugh of a cus h io n throughout th e rest of th e run. I thought it was a great National. I pretty much had a great day until th e end a nd I a lmost sa w it go up in smoke." Hines two-race win strea k ca me to an end a t th e Liul e Pol eca t, but h e was co ntent to hol d onto h is series' po ints lead with his seco nd-p lace finish . " I had a p rett y good day," said Hines, " I did have a lillie traffi c problem , th at probabl y cos t me a co u p le minutes. The first chec k I didn 't like. If yo u knew yo u co u ld go in early, yo u co u ld have zero ed it. I m issed it by a bo u t three seco nds and tha t cos t me th e even t, " I ro de ok a y, but Dave just had a su pe r-good ride," Hin es sa id. " T h is is hi s terrain an d he just beat me. I tried a nd seco nd pl ace points helps me a lot. That's what I was after. I wa s being ca utio us, trying not to fall or wreck th e bike, so that worked o u t go od for me." Jeff Irwin piloted his four-stroke Husky to a third overa ll finish an d was rel ieved when the run was over. ''I'm g lad to be alive," Irwin said. "Everything went pretty smooth. I just felt sick all da y. I don't know if it was something I 'ate or what. In th at last loop I crashe d five or six times. I guess my eq u ilibriu m was messed up or so me th ing. "T he run was tough ," he said. "They had ni ce long sectio ns that were 15- to 20-miles long and they 'd get yo u good a nd lat e. It was a very well laid out event. " J eff Russell p ilot ed hi s Husky to a top five fini sh , ca rding a fourth o vera ll. " I had a good day. I just kind of hu n g in th ere," sa id Russell. " I burned a check an d th at ended up costing me th ird overa ll. I'm not really used to riding in th e rocks since th ere is nothing lik e th at back h ome. It 's different o u t here." Drew Smith o nce again borrowed a bik e to ride a National. In today's Polecat co m pe ti tion he g u ided an XR 's Onl y-prepped H o nda to fifth overa ll. " I' m reall y happy with m y rid e tod ay." sa id Sm ith. " I came reall y close o n o ne chec k a n d I just mad e it o n 59 seconds, so I co ns ider th e day a perfect su ccess. Al Baker at XR's Onl y set up th e bike a nd it ran stron g a ll da y." . Cunningham was a little tentative in his first National Enduro of th e yea r. "I wa s co nserva tive, because I didn 't wear a brace," he said. "M y leg held up pretty good, but I think th at I'v e got a fear, now that I've had a re-break. I was off th e throttle too much. " I onl y hurt m y leg twi ce during th e run , but I didn't put it out and spin a ro u nd th e co mers like I should have," he sa id . " I was afraid of crashing and th a t's not good . I got tired at the start of the second loop and th e last loop I wa s whipped from th e start. I made a couple of mental errors and burned a couple checks." Pete Postel piloted his H onda CRl25R to first place honors in the 200cc A class, beating o ut Kawasaki rider Jeff Naff and Ca giva-mounted .Dave Wells. The Four-Stroke A class win fell to Ken Hodges, who was followed home by Doug Chestnut. Baker took third in class despite suffering through part of the last section with a flat tir e. John Haaker thumped his way to the Open A division victory aboard his Husky four-stroke; Rick Da n iel and John Nielsen ro unded out th e top three slots. The Senior and Super Senior A cla ss honors went to Morris Norm an and Bob Sorenson , respectively . The B class riders rode th e full 100mil e co u rse whil e the Criders,

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