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Bertram powered his Husqvarna to the overall victory in New York. setting the pace for Hines. Drew Smith and Jeff Russell. KTM pilot Kevin Hines. who leads the National Enduro Series point standings. finished second to David Bertram at Speedsville. AMA National Enduro Series: Round 7 Bertram scores at ,Speedsville Enduro By Paul Clipper/Trail Rider Magazine SPEEDSVIL L E, NY, AUG. 16 Husqvarna's Dave Bertram stayed on the gas and' away from the problems long enough to tally two less points than KTM 's Kevin Hines at Speedsville, claiming the overall a nd 30 more p oints toward th e Nation a l C h a mpi on ship . '. '11 1 d . Hl n e~ so ea s .t~ e ยท point standings, .an unofficial 188 lo Bert ra m 's 165, with five races left on the calendar. ' Bertram's win was n o t totall y without in cident, but he was as selfdeprecatin g, as usu al , abo u t it. " I basicall y lu cked ' into thi s one. My odometer broke at 16 miles a nd never came ba ck, but that was abo u t the only mi stak e I mad e. I had a really good rid e - for a change!" " I thin k some of those chec k cloc ks were broken , too!" joked Bert ram 's teammat e J eff Irw in. "They were stuc k o n 58!" H e was talking about Bert ram 's unca nny lu ck a t two of the tough chec ks during th e day, wh ere he just managed to blast pa st th e chec k flags a second or two before th e cards were flipped. T wo chec ks were a ll it too k, with Bertram dropping II points to Hines' 13. Their closest competi tio n wa s Han.. da 's Drew Smith , wh o fini shed th ird overall with 16 points. The 1987 Spee dsv ille National could hardly have been more different th an th e sa me race last year. The hail , electrica l storms and del ~ge of last year wer.e on ly a memory m ~he ruts carved mto some of the trail s; th is yearthe co urse was dry, and even dusty in so me sectio ns . O n Saturday afternoon , in one of the wa rm -up sections, th e Na tio na l ri ders were using a dry creek bed tha t wo uld ha ve been a diffi cult swi m in 1986. Riders were expecting du st in th e mornin g, but most were unprepared for th e first section of woods tra ils. .Under th e trees it was cool, moi st a nd unbelievabl y slip pery. T he re's some th ing abo ut the local terrain tha t traps wate r a nd makes the mos t of it, a nd the ear ly sections were like riding on gre ased glass . An " early" check at abo ut nine miles o ut co uld have easi ly become a lat e chec k fo r ' the AA riders as they sorted things out for th e 130 miles tha t wo uld foll ow; and it was defini tely a late . chec k for the sleep ing riders. T he second chec k was a to ta l surprise. T hose wh o were act ua lly scored in it saw a chec kpoint on a new piece of trail th at dog-legged off of a n exis ting trail. T hose wh o w eren' t scored at it on ly noticed a blank sp ot on their cards and messed up mileage. Bertram mad e the second chec k, no problem . P ractica lly.every one of the o ther AA rid ers m issed it. Bu t, according to AMA rules, th e chec k must be dumped if more th an 50 percent of th e riders mi ss it, a nd on ly around 100 riders ou t of 305 were scored. For get check two . . It wo uld have been a zero chec k, any how. T he first lat e chec k of the day was check number three, and bro ken odo me ter or no, Bertram j us t sq ueaked in for a one- po int lo ss. H in es was o n the minu te beh in d, an d scra mbled past the flags just as the cards were bein g flipped, losing tw o points. H e carried th e two 'p oint s into the next sectio n, losing two a t the fourt h chec k, a nd, to hi s ben efit, Bertram also lost two. One of th e few burns on the first loop was posted by Carolina T ool rid er Randy H awkins, wh en he was marked as burning the third chec k, . wh ich seeme d a little ~dd si nce everyo ne else was lat e. T here was qui te a bi t of talk ab out it af terwards, but the score went unprotested and H aw kins kept th e two points. Some rid ers comp lained abo u t th e arrowing of th e course, with turns bein g mark ed too abru p tly, a nd more th an o ne rider had a " los t" story to tell afterwards. H ines claimed brainfad e a nd a torn ro ute sh eet wh en he ca me o u t of th e woods into what look ed like a gas available, but it was on ly spectators jockying for parking spaces o n a n asphalt road. " I mad e a left up th e roa d, and I should have go ne straigh t into th e woods. By th e . time I realized my mistak e an d go t back o n the track, I wound up losin g a point a t th e nex t check. But, so did Dave. That sectio n really hurt. " It didn 't hurt as badl y as ge tti ng lost hurt Kawasaki 's J eff Fredette. " I just lost the arrows and went wanderi ng up a gravel road. By th e time I found my way aga in I wa s in deep trouble;" he sai d. Fredette figured th e time lost cost him four points. The enduro came down to seconds a t the very la st check, when Bertram came in at "58" once again, and Hines arr ived just as the cards were flipped, losin g an add itional point to make it II to 13. Sm ith hustled his XR250 into third with 16 points, just 12 seconds ahead of Husky's Jeff Russell wh o als o had a 16. J eff Irwin carded an 18 for fifth , right in front of Hawkins with his "warm" 19. Pittsburgh rider Mike T oole took sevent h place, just seconds a hea d of Kevin Bennett, who was also th e top fin ish ing ECEA rider. Both riders had 19 pa in ts. Fredett e fini shednin th with a 21, and Ri chard Heins was 10th overa ll and High Po int A wi th 26 poin ts. New England rider David Niemiec too k High Point B with six points. The B riders on ly rode th e fir st two loops, but cons ideri ng the fact th at the AA riders were dropping four or five points over the same sections, Niemiec' s ride was anything but mell ow. Sco tt Ch apwich carded a 32 to ta ke hom e H igh Point C. Speedsvi lle was a National to th e ou t-of-town boy s, but it was just another sto p on the hotly-contested ECEA circuit to the local s. Kevin Bennett will definitely pick up some points as th e top ECEA rider, with hi s eig h th overall finish . The ECEA Champions hip is curre n tly being traded back and fort h betw een Bennett , Bruce Dengler, arid 1986 Champ ion J ack Lafferty , J r. Bennett got top points, while Den gl er was scored as second in th e ECEA A Expert class, Husky rider Hank Sta nkiewicz was third a nd Lafferty fourth. Unofficia lly, it appears th at Den gl er is fir st in EC EA p oin ts, followed closel y by Bennett a nd Lafferty. Only two injuries were rep orted, one broken leg and a broken collarbone. Allan Walter of Laconia, New H ampshire, parked his bike to sit with th e rider .wi th th e broken leg until help a rri ved, and for. his th oughtfulness th e IDR awarded him with a finisher mug a nd a cap at t he trophy presentation. The Ithaca Dirt Riders, under th e august leadership of perennial Presiden t George Marrer, did an excellent job; with a stadium trials demonstra-