Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

local rider Kevin Bennett beat several National riders at the Sandy lane National by dropping on ly 26 points. J ack lafferty Jr. tried to stay w ith Bennet and was originally credited w ith second overall . but an addition error bumped him back-to third . AMA/RK Chain National Championship Endur' Series: " Final round - mi le mark with a n a iling cl u tch . U p to th a t point hi s sco re ca rd showed he was o n ly one point over Bennett's pace, but as th e slipp ing cl utch extracted deep bl isters on hi s left h and he decid ed to pack it in before he had to push . Hines' arch riva l, T erry Cunningham , rode a .I25cc Cagiva and regr etted h is choice o f mounts after th e firs t section. . " I dropped five, an d every body else dropped three," h e sai d with a grin. " A 125 was n ot th e best size bike for this co u rse!" The Meteor Motorcycle Club outdid them selves preparing th e cou rse for this National. Club m embers worked weekends for four months searching ou t th e old est Sandy Lane trail s th ey co u ld find , mapping th e trail s, an d th en clearing o u t overgrown brush an d Iace-slappers. The end resu lt wa s a co u rse th at was a lmost entirely free o f wlioop-de-dos, a nd ru n over trails that local riders hadn 't-see n for ma ny, man y years. Trail Boss Dal e Freitas described th e co urse as, " tig h t in th e beginn in g , a n d th en j us t wh en yo u t ho ugh t it co u ld n' t g et a ny tighter. . c." And Fre itas was true to hi s word. The ride rs entered th e woods rig h t after a 2.4 m ile reset right o ff th e start, a nd whe n they eme rged at th e first chec k they had a n idea wh at was goi ng to h a ppen a ll da y. Onl y Ben n ett a nd Yan kows ki clocked a two-point loss, th e rest a t least -th ree or four. The n ext " two checks were zeroab le, an d Russell a nd Gravitt both blundered in for burn points. At chec k fou r, Meteor th rew in th e firs t taste o f reall y tight trees, a nd a lthough points were tak en, th e top riders a ll dro p ped three points, with th e exceptio n of Bertram a nd Russell, who eac h dro p ped four, a llowin g Bennett to tak e more of a ' Iead on th em. Hi nes, Lafferty , Rogers-. H awkins, a nd Gravi tt wer e a ll tied up in second. The next three checks all tu rned out to be zeros, esp ecia lly when th e club had to th ro w out checks five a nd Benne~ blasts Sandy Lane National By Paul Clipper/Trail Rider Magazine CH ATSWO RTH , NJ, NOV. 15 Local r ider Kevin Bennett dazzl ed the Na tional riders this weekend by beating them badly at their own game. There was never really a contest, as Bennett rode the Sandy Lane co u rse at his usual speed on his Millville Cycles Yamaha YZ250, dropping 26 points to seco nd place finisher 8 Dave Bertram 's 35 points. Bertram a n d Tea m Hu sk y partners J eff Russell a n d Terry Cunningham were su rp rised a t first, but when th ey learned that Bennett was th e EC EA Champion th is yea r, th ey were sa tis fied. " Point th is guy ou t to me!" sa id Russell , who fini sh ed fifth overa ll. " If he's th at fast, I wa nt to sha ke h is ha nd!" Wh en th e scoring sta rted, it looked like a local sweep of the first two p laces, as J ack Lafferty J r. was scored as seco nd overa ll with 37 p oints. Bertram went up with 38, but a n addition error was pointed ou t a n d La fferty was m oved to th ird, beh ind Bertra m 's 35. La fferty, r id ing a Husky 250WR, was ECEA G ra nd Champion in 1983, 84, 85, a nd 1986, givi ng lip h is cro w n th is year to lo ngtime rid ing partner Bennett. Fourth o n the docket was Carolina T oo l' s Randy H a wkins. Ha wkins had a decent da y on his 250 H usky, but sim p ly rode a not ch under the pa ce o f th e leaders. SETRA Hare Scra mbles Champion ' Allen Gravitt finished sixth overall on his KTM with 48 points, which was good enough for the H igh Po int A tro phy. G ra vi tt , who is sponsored by H &H KTM , Sm it h, Duralube an d Trelleborg, ca me u p n orth wi th . Barry Higgins fo r th e ride, an d left before trophy presen ta tion th inking h e wo u ld n' t even fig ure in the resu lts, "since th e wi nner dropped 26." H iggin s wo n -the A Senior class. Sevent h an d eig hth overall were local riders J ohn Rogers and Ken Yankowski, both ridin g KTMs. wi th 49 a nd 5 1 p oints, respectively. Yankow ski a nd Rogers have bee n ba ttling a ll season for th e ECEA AA class wi n, and a lthough Rogers came o u t o n to p a t the Sa n dy Lane , Yan ko wski still h ad the poi nts a nd wi ll win th e class for th e year. Exmoi ocrosser Pat Moron ey took th e ninth spot o n a KTM wi th 54 poi nts, a nd Honda' s Drew Smith fi nis hed o ut the top 10 wit h a 55-point ride on h is XR280 four-stro ke. KT M factory /H&H KTMsponsored Kevin Hin es. who had wrapped up the Nati onal Championship two weeks before, started th e Sandy Lane on a KTM 250 Enduro, but retired a t abo ut the 114- six d ue to m ileage errors ca used by hunters pulling down arrows. " We don't lik e zero checks a nyh ow l" sa id T rail Boss Freitas good hurnoredly, since he was th e o n ly one rwho knew wha t was co m ing up. Check eig h t was th e first reall y tough chec k-o u t, a n d Freitas stood in th e chec k, an TIS folded, sta rin g into th e wood s as number six, th en seven, th en eig h t, ca me up on th e flip cards before th e first rider came into th e check. The first group of riders wer en 't lookin g very chipper, but th e worst was coming. The eighth check ran back-to-hack N wit h the ninth ch eck, and Bennett and Hines were th e on ly two who dropped five at the first one and five .., a t the second. Bertram dropped a five/ six , as did Lafferty. Every one else was rapidl y running o u t of' steam . An easy sectio n before the third gas sto p featured a deep sa nd road th at wa s closed o ff at both en ds, a nd so me of th e AA rid ers were a lmos t hitting 90 mph down the road. Th e Criders we re rr' t as energe tic. "T he re wasn 't a o ne of them who h ad any fast left in h irn l" sa id Meteor President Russ H ancock, wa tchi ng at th e sidelines . From the third gas to th e fin ish was a killer. H in es dropped o ut a t th e l Oth chec k, wh ich was a zero check. The II th took a p oint from everyone excep t Bennett , th e best scores a t 12 were a six eac h from Bennett a nd Bertram , but by now Bennett had a four p oint lead and was n ' t looking back. Russell joined th e two o f th em for a zero a t chec k 13, th en Bennett dropped a three to Bert ram's four a t check 14 - before th e co ntroversy began. Bennett an d Laffert y tore o u t o f chec k 14 lik e two m en p ossessed, righ t through a rese t and into th e woods , wi th six mi les left o n th e ro u te shee t unti l th e fin ish. Bertram arrived just seco nds ahead of Russell a nd they bo th sat a t th e 10 m inute reset for a t least a minute until a spectator came up an d to ld th em

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