Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RELIABILITY ENDURO AMA N ational C hampionship R eliability E nduroSeries Round 1:Lubbock Trail Rid ers (Left) Kawasaki's Ty Davis won hands down at the Lubbock Two-Day ISDEQualifier. He set the quickest time in every special test. (Below) Team Suzuki Off-Road's Rodney Smith, the defending series champ, cou ldn't quite match Davis' speeds in the special tests but still finis hed second overall. (Bottom) Endu ro champ Steve Hatch rode hard and claimed third overall. By Steve Berkner CROSBYrON, IX, APR. 29-30 a wasaki ' S Ty Davis has had . a pretty good year so far. In his first attempt contesting the entire National Championsh ip Enduro Series, he won the first four rounds. Two burned checks last week in Louisiana in round five cost Davis the overall where he had to settle with a second place finish. With a free weekend off before the National Enduro Series resumes in Ohio, the Team Green rider thought participating in the opening round of the National Reliability Enduro Series would be a nice change of pace. After all, there would be no pres'su re of having to win since Davis will not participate in this year's International Six Day Enduro which will be held in Po land. "This weekend is really no big deal to me, " said Davis. "Las t week I made a couple of mental mistakes in Louisiana and ended up with a second. This week I'm just here to relax a little before going to the Ohio National. I'm really looking forward to just rid ing here with no pressure to w in." And so what d id Davis do? He won. Surprised? The 26-year-o ld off-road ace was unbeatab le atthe Lubbock TwoDay Qualifier, setting the fastest times in all eight special tests. "Actually, I've won the last 12 tests here," said Davis. "On the second day last year I won all the tests." Again in Texas, Davis was unbeatable. "I really had a lot of fun out ~ there. I d idn' t crash in any of my tests; I just rode and had fun." Finishing nearly 70 points be hind Davis was Suzuki's Rodney Smith, the defending series champ. "Ty is just rea lly runn ing smooth right now," said Smith. "He's using different lines than the rest of us and he's really attacking them. I swear his handlebars are almost draggin' through the comers." Smith had a good weekend himself, consistently finishing second to Davis in six of the eight timed tests . "I always seem to start ou t a little slow," said Smith. "The sand here is real slippery and I didn't want to take chances during the firs t race of the series. My strategy was to just ride smooth." Smith was bettered twice by . fellow Suzuki teammate Steve Hatch who finished third , 47 points behind Smith. Hatch's ride was almost over at the first gas when he discovered a cracked cy linder. The defending National Enduro Champion said , "It rnustve taken a hit from a rock. We discovered coolan t leaking out at the base of the jug and we figu red it was a loose nut. After further inspection we saw tlie crack in the jug. I en ded up using some ep.oxy to seal it and keep it from leaking. "My first test (Sa turday) went real well. But I crashed during the second test and twis ted my ankle a little, " added Hatch. "I decided to back off a little and concentrate on being smooth. They don't have a lot of trees to work with here out in the desert so the club relies a lot on varied terrain . One moment you'll be riding down a sandwash and the next they send you down a drop-off with rocks. The club did an excellent job of marking these areas and that made it easier to ride consistent." The two-day, 28-check, event was hosted by the Lubbock Trail Riders and was held at the Williams' Ranch located about 40 miles southeast of Lubbock. The Tulsa Trail Riders scored the event. The trail consisted of varying desert terrain with two sections of the th ree loop course running through a hill canyoned area lo ca te d at the north end of the 11,000 acre ranch. Each loop was approxima te ly 40 miles long. At the end of the day riders were tes ted on a two-mile grass tr ack th a t was ri bboned off in a sand wash loc ated a djacent to th e sta r t/ finish / impound a rea . The co u rse repea te d itself on d ay tw o with th e sa me time sche d u le and start times . The first test was four miles lon g and wound its way throu gh a sa nd wash and back and fo rth across a rid ge. The second test was about two m iles lon g and highlighted varying terrain from sandwashes to hill trails through a section of canyons known as "Rambo Country." The third terrain test was held on the

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