eENDURO
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Reliability Enduro Series: Final round
Rodney Smith (122) bumps ISDE gold medalist Steve Hatch as they dice during the final motocross special test. Smi th domin ated the test and scored the overall win.
Runner-u p Larry Ro eseler cli nched th e series title at th e Carson Valley Qu alifier.
Smith wins; Roeseler's champ
By Ken Mirell
MINDEN, NV, ocr, 5
o tocrosser Rod ney Smi th outlas ted so me of the best ISDE
riders in th e nation to score the
ove rall win at the Ca rson Valley
Qualifier , the fin al rou nd of th e
Nat ional Rel iab ility Enduro Series.
Smith, from An tioch, Ca li forn ia,
blazed "through the three terrain tests
an d totally domina ted th e fina l gr ass
tra ck speci al test, topping runner-up
Larry Roeseler by just 27 points.
Although Smith was the man of th e
day, Cal ifornian Roeseler was th e man
of the year, as hi s second-p lace fini sh
sewed up th e series cha m pionsh ip titl e
by eight po ints over New York 's Steve
Hatch . The National Reliab ilit y
Enduro cro wn is Roeseler's first-ever
cham p io nship titl e.
The one-da y event, hosted by th e
High Sierra Mot or cycleClub, attracted
325 riders, who were cha llenged with
a I IO-mile co urse in the high desert
o utside of Minden.
After th e first check, th e rid ers were
dumped into a very fast sand wash and
up a rock y trai l to th e first special test,
a winding 5.5-mile trail through the
pi nion pi nes. Suzuki R M250-mo unted
M
16
Smith set the fastest tim e' with Jon
Kin g, on a Suzuki 125, just seven
secon ds back. Hat ch , the "Top Ame rica n" a t the recent ly co ncl uded Internati onal Six Day End uro in Czechoslovaki a, was third fastest, eight seconds
beh ind Kin g. Ka wasaki-mounted Roeseier pos ted the ninth quickest time,
ยท 46 seconds off Smith's pace.
A generous tim e schedule had most
of th e ri ders ear ly a t the next chec k
at mile 45.5. T his section was a mix
of si ngle track trail a nd roa ds with
pl enty of rocks. Many co mpeti to rs
forgot to bump up th eir tire air
pressu re and many fiats were th e result.
The co urse event ually led the rid ers
up EI Dorado Ca nyo n , whi ch the club
has used in th e past. But instead of
going up th e ca ny o n , th e course
jumped o nto a n extre mely rocky 4.5mile section . T he rid ers had to hustle
to ma ke th e next check on"tim e. Mor e
fast two-tra ck gree ted th e rid ers as the
course wound a ro und Bismark Peak
a t a n eleva tio n of 7529 feet.
Special test number two was next on
the menu with 6.5 mil es of fast roads
a nd ano ther tight sand wash. Roeseler
