Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ENDVR0 AMA National Championship ReliabilityEnduro Series: Round 3 For the second year in a ro w, T err y Cun ningham carded the overall win at the Little Burr ISDE Qualifier. Cunningham scores again in Ohio Fil e p h o to by David Gowey M cARTHUR, OH, M Y24 A ea m Green Kawa saki's T erry Cunningham used the combination of speed, experience and a littl e bit of good . luck to record hi s second major o££-road victory in the state of Ohio in as man y weeks. This tim e Cunningham pull ed o ff a n overall win at th e Little Burr ISDE One-Da y Qualifier, which was also a round of the Nat ional Championship Reliability Enduro Seri es, Finishing behind th e Kawasak i KX l25-mounted Cunningham in th e final results were international visitors J immie Erikss on of Sweden and J an Hrehor of Czechos lovakia, who en ded up second and th ird, resp ectivel y. Fourth overall was the 250cc class winner Kurt Hough, while three-time Nati onal Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins rounded out the top five overall. The Little Burr event took place exac tly one week a fte r the T eam G reen /Scott/Dunlop/Malcolm Smith Ra c ing /Bel-Ra y/ Ace rbis /Pro Circuit/ICO /BeI IlEK Chain/ Renthal-sponsored Cu nningham from Albany , Ohio, won the Little Raccoon Classic National Enduro in Welston, Ohio. The win also marked the second r 4 year in a row that Cunningh am has fini shed o n top at th e L ittl e Burr Qualifi er. Last year's win crea ted some controversy wh en Cunningh am did not register as a LOI (Le tter of Intent, a cla ss for riders who a re attempti ng to qua lify for the ISDE) rider and did not face the sam e and more str ict impound rules as most of his Nat ion alcaliber ri vals did. The AMA ended up awarding a unique " sp lit overall " and LOI high-finish er Steve Hatch was given eq ual credit for the win . There were n o qu estions abo u t Cunningham's impound advantages this time around, however, as th e fourtime National Enduro Champ ion regis tered in the LOI 125cc class this , year. St ill, th at m ov e - to a 125cc mach in e - paid bi g dividend s lat e in the day when Cunningham , starting , first in th e field of 35 total LOI riders, mad e it through the second an d fin al terrain test before a clo ud b urs t dr enched th e rest of th e field. Cun nin gham finish ed th at last shor t sectio n with a score of 652 (seconds), an extrao rdinary 45 seco nds bett er (fa ster) .th an ea rly lead er Sco tt Summers' second fastest time. " T h at was o ne of th e stranges t th in g s t hat I'v e ever see n," said Summers of the sudden downpour. " It came down so hard th at the trail was almost im passabl e aft er just a minute or two. T erry really go t lucky there, bu t even witho u t th at secti on he still pu t in a winning ride." Summers was right. Cunningham's fina l tally o f 2323 was 60 points better than seco nd-best Eriksson 's final score. Eri ksson won the previous two rounds in Oklahoma and Michigan. " I feel like I would've won anyway," said Cu nning ha m. " I knew that some guys might be comp laining, because they did the same thing last year wh en I won, o nly' they were angry because 1 started too far behind and had some berms on the grass track sections. I won by 37 po ints then , bu t they made me spl it the-win with Steve Hatch, becau se he was a LOI rid er. Today I go t caugh t in the rain , too. Those guy s had to beat th e ru ts, but I had to beat the brush for them all day. They'r e j ust crying the blues like they did last year." Eriksson, who rod e a Husaberg 50 1 fou r-stro ke, said, " I had so me prob lems in the las t terr ain test after the rai n. 1 fell down one tim e and th en I had p rob lems with mud fro m the trees sp lashing my goggles. Maybe the early riders had an advantage today, but some times it's di fferent , and the rid ers in th e back have the better advantage. 1 just had a tough time." .. Most of the riders o n han d agreed tha t the Little Burr was a tou g h one. T he tra il measured 60 m iles in total len gth with the riders naviga ting the loop twice, Two terr ain test sectio ns, a pair of grass test sections and the fina l five-lap motocross test h igh ligh ted the layout. T he event, whi ch was organized by th e End uro Riders Associa tion of Oh io, comm enced fro m the Vinton Cou nty Fairgro un ds an d concluded on the nearby American Motor Sports MX track. Most of the trai ls had a low di££iculty [actor and kep t most of the riders o n tim e, adding to the importan ce of the five various test sections. The event began at 8:01 a.m., with Cunningham leading the LOI 125cc class awa y from th e starti ng grid. T he first grass test came a t th e 5.9-mile mark and was just less th an three miles in leng th. Summers posted th e fastest time 403 (seconds) from deep within the field. Eriksson was just a second o ff Summ er s ' pa ce , whi le Cunningham showed a 410 on his card. Hough was the fastest LOI 250cc cla ss rider with a sco re of 416. Suzu ki teamma tes Hawkins and Steve Hatch foll ow ed with identica l 422 scor es. "The test was prett y easy, so it came down to wh oever mad e th e lea st amo unt of mi stak es," adm itted Hawkins. " But th at 's o kay, because 1 was hoping for an easy co mfortable ride tod ay. 1 wasn 't exac tly setting the ' woods on fire or any thi ng like that, but 1still felt like I pu t in a good ride." The first terra in test was set near th e 3 0~m i le mark and saw Erik sson emerge with a top score of 549 seco nds, six seconds faster th an fellow LOI Open Four-Strok e competitor Summers . Cunningham, aga in, had the rig ht pa ce and registered a second-best 553 time. Hrehor , riding a Suzuki DR 350 in th e LOI 0-350cc Four-Strok e division, was the on ly other rider to break th e 560 mark with a 558 tim e. "I kept overshooting corne rs in th at first terr ain test," said Hatch of his early 566 score. " I was able to get back on th e trai l quickly eno ugh bu t then I'd j us t trip over myself again. T he club did a real good job of making those terr ain tests cha llenging; maybe I was just tryin g a Iittle too hard. " The second grass test was run just after the start of th e second loop, a p p ro xi ma tely 65 m iles i n to th e . qua lifier, and in corporated thesame area as th e first . This tim e Cunningham picked up hi s pa ce by II seconds and posted top test time of 399 seconds. Hatch recovered from hi s first terr ain test troubles and put in a 400seco nd ride, whi ch was identical to Summers' time. Hrehor, a renowned grass track specialist, regist ered a 401. Going int o th e last terrain test, Summers was the man with the best com bined score of 1358, four points better than Cun ningham and Eriksson. However, as Cunningham glided through the secti on at the front of the LOI riders, the rain began to fall. " It was strange th ing to see becaus e every LOI rider was in the test when th e clouds opened up," said Ro ger Ansel of the AMA. " Cu nning ham was almost finish ed and the last rider, Gar y Doerr, I believe, had just begun." Cunningham fini shed th e section with a score of 652, whi le Summers p osted a second-best 697 seconds. Eriks son 's di££iculties with the trai l and his goggles add ed up to a 715 score and effectively ended hi s seri es win streak at 'two.

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