Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·. ZE O O RE· By Tini Ziermari :. he N ational Enduro Series is nearly dead. And in my opinion, the AMA is at fault. Strong statements? You bet. Can I back them up? I think so. I'm not sure how many people really care. I am convinced that AMA 's management doesn't. In the hopes th at t her e are enough of you out there who do care, as I do, maybe this d iscussion will stir things up. Let me define the problem for you . In 1994 there were only five or six people who seriously competed in the entire National Enduro Series. Hardly enough to make the series meaningful. And this statement is not meant to detract from the abilities of Steve Hatch, Kevin Hines or Randy Hawkins. They would probably dominate the series even if there were 50 or 100 riders contesting the series. At the rate things are going though, we'll probably never know. The problem with the current National Enduro Series format, and schedule, is that it's nearly impossible for anyone other than those three or four riders who receive full factory backing, or those who are independently wealthy, to compete in the series. This is both sad and ironic. Ironic because the sport of enduros is defined as an amateur sport. Sad because it doesn't have to be this way. The 'sport can continue to flourish rather than die if some major changes are made to the way things are done. I'll get to that later, but let 's continue the discussion about what's wr ong. The schedule itself is a major factor in the decline in the meaningfulness of . . the National Enduro Series. A look at the '95 schedule will illustrate my point. The first event is scheduled for February 19 in Californi a, followed a week later by the second event in Arizona. The third enduro is in Georgia on March 19, followed a week later by the fourth event in west Texas, followed a week later by the fifth enduro on the schedule which is in northern California, Think of the travel time involved in going to these events. Could you afford to take the necessary time away from your job to do it? That's point number one. Point number two is that this sched. ule all but precludes someone from the Midwest or the Northeast from competing effectively even if they somehow can come up with the time off to go to the actual events. Why 's that, you say? I Because the snow hasn't melted in these areas by the time five of the nine events have occurred. If you can 't practice and compete on a local level in the week s and months leading up to the fi rst " National, you can't hope to be competitive . Just ask Steve Hatch from Ithaca, New York. That's why he spent most of the 1993-94 winter in California, It paid off for him - he's the new champ. The problem is that most people can't do what he did for what is supposed to be an amateur sport. Riders from the East Coast and Midwest have dominated the National Enduro scene for years . The record speaks for itself. Dick Burleson and Bill Baird, two of the winningest enduro riders of all time, are both Midwesterners. Terry Cunningham and Randy Hawkins are both multi-time champions. 'Ferry is a Midwesterner and Randy is from South Carolina. Kevin Hines, a former champion, and Hatch are both Northeasterners and another ex-champ, Jeff Russell, is from the Midwest. Does it make sense then to preclude young riders from these areas, who aspire to be enduro champions, from competing in the National Enduro Series? I think not. You will notice tha t in the previously mentioned list of past enduro champions there are no California riders . Not because there are none capable of winning the title. I'm sure guys such as Rodney Smith, Ty Da vis, Larry Roeseler, Danny Hamel, to name just a few Californians, could provide some formidable National Enduro competition if it were in their interests to do so. Their priorities are elsewhere (although it is rumored that Ty Davis may give it a go in 1995). I . d on't remember the last Californian to compete serious ly for the series championship. Dave Bertram perhaps? Yet the AMA continues to schedule two National Enduros in California, thereby driving up the costs significantly to those who want to compete for the title. Still not convinced that the current format and schedule is preventing the young, up-and-coming enduro riders from competing at the National level? Look over the standings from the past three or fou r years . You'll see the same familiar names with few exceptions. The other thing you will notice if you follow the series closely is that only the top four or five in the standings ride the entire series. Why aren't there more new young enduro stars? Most people simply can't afford to compete under the current format. That being the case, unless the format is changed the National End uro Series will su rely come to an end, and soon, too . The series simply won't survive to support the four or five riders that are serious about competing in it. It's not meaningful. Local clubs know it. The motorcycle manufacturers know it. The riders know it, and you gotta believe that AMA knows it. I blame AMA management to a large extent for the decline of the National End uro Series because they control the sched ule and because they are in the position of leadership to change things. To be fair though, they are not entirely ' at fault. Many of us can sha re the blame. Those of us who ride enduros and are members of the AMA, especially those who ride the National Series, or aspire to, should have insisted on change long before now . Our local AMA district representatives should be much more attuned to the situation and should be pushing for change. Enough about the problem .and trying to assign blame. Let's talk about som e solutions and what we can do to improve the situation. Don't think the situation is hopeless. There are reasonable solutions that will allow enduro compe tition to grow and thrive for many years to come. People with a vested in teres t need to work toge ther to make it happen, though. That includes riders, manufacturers, and other offroad motorcycle industry participants such as equipment suppliers and the motorcycling press. The AMA needs to provide the leadership and the rest of us need to get behind the idea that things need to change and be ready to offer support and solutions. In the short term we've got to make this a truly amateur sport once again and make it possible for riders of mod est means to effectively compete. Here's one idea I have of how that can be done: "Divide the country into six regions Northeast, Southeast, North Central, South Central, Northwest, Southwest. °Run five qualifying enduros in each region with the best four finishes counting toward a regional championship. Riders would have to file letters of intent before the start of each season declaring which region they intend to compete in. The regional championships would be completed by September 1. "Get motorcycle manufacturers and other industry participants to support the regional championships by con- Barstow Desert Run ; Mike Patrick finished second .. . Jack Ward rode his brand-new Bultaco to victory in the Canyon Crest Trial, held in Riverside, Cali- "'-ir;:~::::; ~ fomia. r, the Supercross Series point standings. Howerton topped Wa ·rren Reid and Mike Bell in taking the win. The fina l point standings read: Bo b Hannah, Jimmy Weinert, Bell and Steve Wise ... Als o in Anaheim , Bruce Penhall and Scott Autrey won berths on the American World Speedway team by taking the top two spots in the qualifier ... Cycl e News tested the Yamaha SX650-SG street bike, writing that the Yamaha featured a ·touch of British mystique. "Hell, ours even seeped oiL.slightly," the story said . :lO()KING BACI<'.~· · 1 25 YEARSA O G ... December 2,1969 elg ia n Rog er D eCoster graced the cover of Issue #46 in 1969 - all crossed up on his cz en route to w inning the Inter-Am round at . San Francisco's China ,',:;;#'t Camp. The race coverage was penned by editor-turnedadvertising-manager Terry Pratt when he still had a real job. DeCoster topped Ake Johnsson and Hakan Andersson in winning the race. Barry Higgins was the top finishing American rider in seventh place... Eri c C ri ppa led the Expert Combo class at Carlsbad Raceway on his 125cc Sachs until getting passed late in the race by Jim Wils on ... Desert raeing star J.N. Rob erts won the loo-inile B .. 15Y SAGO... EAR N ovember28,19 79 -----_J K en n y Ro b e rts received the AMA's Professional Athlete of the Year award at the AMA Awards Banquet.,; Kent How erton won the final round of the AMA/Toyota Supercross Series at Anaheim Stadium in Southern California, in front ofa crowd of 40,000 spectators. Howerton's victory allowed him to clinch the Toyota Trucks Triplecrown of Supercross and moved into fifth place in 5YEARS AGO... November 22,1989 cover devoted to a review of the 1989 motocross racing season fea,!\Ired photos of the three champions, Jeff Stan to n, Jeff Ward and Mike Ki edrowski... The big winners at the A tributing to a pool of prize money to be administered by the A.\.1A. "Give the top 10 finishers in each region cash awards starting with $5000 for first place down to $1000 for 10th place. These cash awards would enable the top regional riders to compete in a final three-race National Championship series. "Esteblish a three-event National Championship series consisting of an Eastern, a Central and a Western event. These would be two-day events with a competitor's best four days counting toward the championship. They would be held in October and November of each year after the regional series is compl eted with a minimum of two weeks between National events. Onl y the top 10 riders from each region could compete for national points. This is necessary so that riders don't skip the regional series which, in effect, become qualifiers for the N ational Championship. Others could enter the even t and compete for the individual event awards but only those that qualified would be eligible for National Championship po ints . . "Clubs would be provided some incentives to put on regional and National events. These incentives would .consist of the AMA picking up the insurance tab for the event and of providing course marking s upplies (arrows, ribbons, score cards, backup sheets, check-station flags). This would assure a level of consistency among events as well as being an incentive for clubs to put on a regional or National event. The cost of these items would come out of the same source pools as the . regional rider awards. "The AMA would have an official, such as the local district representative, . at each regional event to act as referee and to assure compliance with the AMA rules. At the National races an official (employee) from the AMA would be there for the same purpose. This pr oposal addresses most of the problems that exist with the cu rrent schedule and format. It returns the sport of enduros to true amateur status and makes it possible for people to compete with a reasonable investment of time and money. And it would, I'm convinced, allow the sport of enduros to thrive and prosper once again. Over the long haul we should take a hard look at adopting FIM enduro rules . Any better ideas? (N

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