Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.E D R NUO . . __...._- ..AMA National Championship Reliability Enduro Series Round 4: Lone Wolf Two-Day Qualifier today. I just tried to concentrate on the trail and just keep up a good pace. During the first loop the co nditions were ideal," said the Suzuki RMX2S0 pilot, "bu t after the rains started I knew tha t (Psychopath Downhill) was going to ge t ugly. The first time through I was able to ride down the hill with about three minutes to spare. I knew the second time around it was going to be tough so I continued to pick up the pace whereever I could." The 31-year-old rider added, '1 bulldogged my bike down most of the section. Fortunately I had an early minute and only encou ntered one bo ttleneck and was ab le to push my way through it . But that was a ll it took to m ake it tight at the nex t check." Chris Smith agreed wi th the importance of clearing that section without any penalty poi nts. "All w eek long they talked about it rainin g o n Sa turday so my strategy was to start bu mping u p to get ahead of the other riders and avoid (late penalty points)," said the Honda . CRl2S riders. "1 heard the bottlenecks By Steve Berlcner TIUAMOOK,OR, JUNE 1(}-1l uzuki's Rodney Smith clinched his third consecutive National Championship Reliability Enduro title by winning the Lone Wolf Two-Day Qualifier in Oregon. Smith made an impressive effort that incl uded winning six of the two-day qualifier's eight special tests. The grueling event claimed route points from all but tw o riders Smith, who finished with a score of 4667, and Chris Smith, who finished second overall, 133 points back. On day one, heavy rain began to fall at the end of the firs t loop making one traiI section nearly,impassable. That section, na med appropria tely by clu b members "Psychopath Do wnhill ," claimed ro u te points from the remaining 79 ISD E Letter-of-In te nt class riders w ho found th emsel ves "bulldogging" their bikes thro ugh bo ttlenecks that oc cur red on the extremely steep m u d dy downhill single track trail. That section became the "unofficial test" that quickly separated the top riders. S 42 (Above) For the th ird consecutive year, Tea m Suzuki's Rodney Smith wrapped up the AMA National Reliability Enduro Se ries title. Smith clinched the title with the overall win at the Lone Wolf Two-Day Qualifier In Oregon. (Above right) Chris Smith topped the Ughtwelg ht Two-Stroke clas s , finis hing second overall. (Right) Grant Palens ke (210) and Kevin Bailey struggle down Psychopath Downhill, the toughest section of the event. The only rider to lose o ne minute to the muddy incline was Team G reen rider David Rhodes who finished third overall. The even t's special test scores separated the re maining to p finishers w ho all lost between two an d three minutes d uring the d ownhill section. KTM rider Jason Dahners finis hed fourth and XR's only rid er Davide Tro IIi finished fifth. After w inning all fou r of day-one's special tests Rod ney Smith said, "1 really didn't have any problems out there were real bad here last year when it rained (on day two) so I knew being out there alone was the key to being successful." The three-time ISDE Junior Trophy team rider said, "When it started to rain my strategy really paid off. I made it to the bottom of the hill with almost three minutes to spare. I didn't have any carnage to ride through. All I had to do was slide down the hill. I've been in that situation before and sometimes you're jus t lu cky to make it through." When the overall scores for the day were tallied Rod ney Smith and Chris Smith sat atop of the results 80 seconds apa rt wit hout any pena lty points between them. The rest of the LOI riders had their own problems nego tiating the sli ppery d ownhill. Rhodes said, "When we rod e the section earlier in th e day I didn't think it would get that bad (if it rained). Going in to th e sections (for the second loop) I did pick it up a little bit but I ended up getting caught behind a couple of guys tha t had crashed. I got by them the best

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