.E National Championship Enduro Series . Round 1: Clear Creek Recreation Area
N U O· .
DR
AMA
,
IS own
(Left) Ty Davis
opened the
Nationa l Enduro
Series with a
convincing win at
Clear Creek in
Northern
California,
finish ing f ive
points ahead of
his nearest
competito r,
Patrick Garrahan .
By Mark KariyalDlrt Rider
Photos by Kinney Jones
COALINGA, CA, FEB. 18
fter win ning th e AMA Na tio nal
.
- Enduro Champi on ship last year,
Kawasaki Team Green ' s Ty Davi s
felt th e pressure. Mor e th an on ce he's
admitted , "I feel like I have a bu ll's-eye
on m y back; everyone's got their sights
4
on m e,"
It got the Kawasaki KX250-mo unted
racer runni n g scare d, it seems, a n d
th at' s bad - for h is competitors, at leas t.
. Since the end of last season, the Hesperia, California, res ident has continued to
train and ra ce at nearl y the same pace as
he di d du ring h is pri mary com pe titive
year. Davi s raced nearly all wi nter, win ning practically eve ry time he started.
He wanted to be completely race-read y
whe n t he fi rst ro u nd of the enduro
ser ies rolle d aro und.
That was, of course, in comp lete contrast to most of his Eastern-based comp e t it or s, w ho were force d in doors
th rough out th e brutal winter. "This will
be the first time I've rid den on real dirt
an d without spikes all w inter," sa id
(Right) Team
Suzuki's Steve
Hatch fin ished
thi rd overall but
a full 12 points
behind winner
Davis.
Kevi n H ines as he w orked on his CRE
250 at the Salinas Ramblers Motorc ycle
Club 's grounds north of tow n. Man y of
his fellow Easterners were in th e same
boat.
Most of the 425 rid ers present for the
Q u icksil ver N a ti ona l w e re fr om the
Wes t Coast, of co u rse, but everyone
agreed that conditions ha ve never been
b et ter at th e. Clear Creek Re cr ea tion
Area. Rain ea rlier in th e week guaranteed plen ty of loa m; a few di rt roads
dried a bit later in the day, but as Tea m
Green's Larry Roeseler sa id afterwards,
" It was full moto out there, jus t like riding on a fully prepped track. There was
. awesome tr act ion! I ju st ra iled berms
and jumped rocks all day'."
An d in con di tions like tha t, co mbi ned wi th the m omentum h e ' s b u ilt
over th e pas t mon th especiall y , it
wou ld've b ee n h ard to bet against
Davis . Afte r tw o loops an d 94 m iles,
u nofficia l sco re ca rd comp ari s o n s
