Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_OFF~ROAD. , A National Championship Enduro Series . MA Round 2: Cajun Classic Enduro dropped two or more poi nts at the last check. Salvagin g a day filled with earlier bad lu ck, Hawkins coul d take pride in being th e on ly rider to zero th e la st check, crossi ng the finish line jus t as his minu te elapsed. Davis' final score of 12 w as eno ug h for his second victory in tw o rounds . "I need ed this win, " sai d Davis. "I w ill be competing in the AMA N ation al Enduro Series, as w ell as th e AMA N at ional Hare and H ound se r ies. So me of th e races conflict, and I will p robably miss two eve nts from each series. Each series allows tw o throwaways, so 1 need to do well in every event to win the championships." Lafferty, Waller, Hines and Haw kins all ended up with 13. They finis hed in the above order after all the tie-breaking seconds were counted. Stavish, Bennett, Tabor, KTM-mounted Ben Shafer and Hond a-mou nted Mike Morrow rounded out the top 10. 0 By Larry Tob y FOREST HILL, LA. MAR. 17 aw asaki' s Ty Davis ended any unanswered qu estions as to his ability to compete in all types of race condi tio ns . Afte r d omin at in g th e first rou nd of the AMA Nati on al Cha mp ionsh ip En d uro Series in th e op en, ro ck y sectio ns ou t w est in h is own stom pi ng grou nds of California, Davis w o n the seco n d rou n d in the tigh t, twi sty, eas tern condi tions in the heart of Caju n Cou ntry - Louisia na . " I ha d to change m y tra in in g and practice sessions to prepare for these eas te rn condi tions," said Da v is . " 1 res pect riders like Randy Hawkins and Steve Hatch who go through these tight tree s and never slow down. 1 still tense up when 1 hit a tree . All week I've been banging tree s until it felt natural." . "Th e Acadiana Dir t Riders did an excellent job preparing this event," said Haw kins . After being nearly flooded out last year, the club had its collectiv e fingers crossed this year. The ever-threatening storm forecas t for the area held off until after the trophy presentation. An hour later the whole race area was blanketed with golf-ball-size hail. The conditions for the race were nearly perfect. The cl ub wasted little tim e tak in g po ints from the rider s. A stee p hill followed immediately by a long drop off 50 feet from the sta rt elim ina ted so me rider's chances befo re their engines ever got warm. H a lfw a y into the fi rst lo op, the course d esi gn er s threw in th e fir st o f several really tight sections. Most of the top rid ers dropped three or more points. Only Da vis lost two points at the third check. The next section w as only slightly easier. Most rid ers d ropped an addition al minute on top of the time th ey were already late. By the end of the first loop , Da vi s h ad lost a total of five p oints. KTM ' s M ike Lafferty, Kawa saki' s George Waller [r., CRE-mounted Kevin Hines and TM-mounted Kevin Bennett w ere all carryi ng seven p o ints. Ha w k ins, KTM's M att St avish, a n d H o nda-mounted Tim Taber were a m inu te later w ith sco res of eig ht. Last year's winner, Kawasaki's Kelby Pep per, w as anothe r m inute back w ith a score of nin e. Th is w as a n unforgiving ra ce th at d idn't allow for any mistakes or problems. Suzuki's Steve Hatch learned the ha rd way in the first spe cial test of tight trees. " I look ed down and saw that my (rear) brake was on fire," said Hatch. "I had to stop and put the fire out." Hatch lost six po ints at check three and seven points at chec k four, all but eliminating his chances. "Th is will be one of my throwaways," said Hatch. "I guess Lou isiana doesn't like me ." Last year Hatch was leading the race until his bike drowned out not far from the finish . The second loop was challenging enough to keep the rid ers working but took no po ints from the top riders. Davi s managed to burn one o f the checks, however, giving up th e two point lead he had acquired. At the end of the s eco n d lo op, Davis, La fferty, K Caju n Classic Enduro Fores t Hili, Lo uis iana Results: March 17, 1996 (Round 2 of 9) O IA, 1. Ty Davis (Ka w) 12.0475; 2. Michael Lafferty (KTM) 13 .0 503; 3 . George Waller (Ka w ) 13.0569 ; 4. Kevin Hines (e RE) 13.0582: 5. Rand y H aw kins (Suz) 13.0610; 6. Matt Stavish (KTM ) 15.0601; 7. Kevin Bennett (TM ) 16.0538; 8. Tim Taber (Hon) 16.0680; 9. Ben Shafer (KTM ) 17.0684; 10. Mike Mor row (H en ) 18.0700; 11. Ashley Brew e r (Suz) 19.0780; 12. Kell t Ge tz (Kaw ) 20.0790; 13. Kelby Pepper (Kaw) 21.Q125; 14. Steve Narel (Hon) 21.0750; 15. Steve H atch (Suz ) 21.0766; 16. No lan Kn ight (Ka w } 21.0838; 17. Ron Sch ar phorn (KTM) 21.084 8; 18. Jeff Plu nk ett (Ya m ) 22 .0788; 19: 5tephen Reed (Ka w) 22.0894; 20. Greg Bryant (Hon) 23.0788. 200 A: 1. Kelly Getz (Kaw ); 2.. Jeff Kirchner (Kaw); 3. Davi d Cr ain (Kaw ); 4. Harvey Whipple (Ka w ): 5. Mann y Garza (Yam). 250 A: 1. Tim Taber (Hon); 2. Ben Shafer (KTM); 3. Mik e Morro w (Hon); 4. Ashley Brewer (Suz ); 5. Patrick Garrahan (Kaw). OPEN A: 1. Brad Sells (KTM ); 2. Mi chael Slec hta (H o n); 3. Ron Whipple (Kaw ); 4. John Bu rgard (KTM); 5. Dan Sell (KTM). VE T A: 1. Jeff Plunkett (Yam ); 2. Jod y Pa tterson (Hen ); 3. Kelly Crensh aw (Kaw ), 4. Rick In gold (Hon) ; 5. Bennie Waldrop (Kaw) . SR A, I. Gary Goft (H us) ; 2. Greg Peterson (Suz~ 3. .Lar ry Wh ite (Sux); 4. Mike Cantrell (Kaw); 5. Joseph Gutierrez (Suz ). 4-STRK k I. Bob Bennett (Ho n ); 2. Dwight Rudder (Hon); 3. David Vines (Hen ); 4. Garv Thornton (Hu s); 5. Matt Marshall (Hen ). • 200 8: 1. Matt Joach im (Kaw ); 2. Richard Ford (KTM ); 3. Dale Konicke (Kaw); 4. Chad Belcher (Kaw t 5. Jim Keenihan (Ka w ). 250 B: 1. Matt Ma thew s (Ha n); 2. Brian Hudson (ATK); 3. Colin )oacliim (Kaw t 4. Bobby Stults (Suz ); 5. Andy Tarlton (ATK). O P EN 8 : 1. Joh n Bra y (Hem ); 2. Damon Deville (Kaw); 3. John Kozicki (Han); 4. Greg Gu y (KTM); 5. Mark Carpenter (H on), VET S , I. Da vid Jones (H us ); 2. Moo, St=fill (Yamt 3. Bob Sills (Han); 4. Tom Saund ers (Hon); 5. Barry Spi res (KTM ). SR B: 1. Phillip McMillan (Yam); 2. Blaine Sills (Yam ); 3. Phil Breaux (y am); 4. Randy Parke (Kaw ); S. John Reed (Kaw). 4·ST RK B: 1. Ronald Rob in son (H a n ); 2. Brad Belcher (H an); 3. Tim Morgan (Han); 4. Jay Bryant (Han); 5. Darre ll Diamond (Hon ). 200 C: 1. Jerem y WiJliams (G-G); 2. George Mille r Waller and Hines all had seven poin ts. Hawkins, Sta vish and Tab er were still on e minute back with scores of eigh t. The club promised a challenging final loop that would take points from every on e. Wi th tight trees and fallen logs from a recent ice storm, the Acadiana Dirt Riders 'ce rt a in ly delivered. Dav is was the fastest rider throu gh the speci a l test of tight trees. He dropped four minutes and 35 seconds at the very im por ta n t tie-bre aking 12 th chec k . Hatch was the se co n d-fastest a t five minutes even. Lafferty, Waller, Hin es, Hawkin s, Stavish and Bennett all lost Despite bu rn ing a check, Ty Davis topped the compelltlon at the Cejun Clesslc National Enduro In l.-oulslana. Davis has won the flrstlwo round of the series. (Ka w );3. Jamie Matthews (Yam); 4. Sco tt Coplin (Ka wt 5. Josh Jumonvilie (5=). OPEN C: 1. Brian Whiteside (Ka w ); 2. John Fagan (Suz~ 3. Thomas AM (KTM~ 4. David Hagan (Hon); S. Jamie Waite (KTM). VET C: 1. Mi ke Same (Yam ); 2. David Bonsa ll (Kaw); 3. Ben Ar d (KTM ); 4 . Bo Bletcher (Hon); 5. Jimmy Ratliff (Hus). SR c: 1. William Britt (Yam) : 2. Danny Stve ns (Kaw); 3. Mi ke Ch udy (Hus); 4. Kimb le Mas te rs (Hon); 5. Neal Cagle (Kaw). WMN C 1. Lisa Schexnay der (Ha n). JR 100 C: 1. Bryan Pet ty (Kaw); 2. Ma tt hew Ritter (Kaw); 3. Bren t Wa lsh (Kaw) ; 4. Drew Hunt (Suz); 5. five minu tes p lus a varying amount of precious tie-b reaking seconds. All the top riders got back on time to zero check 13. Another final, shor t test took on e point fr om Da v is, La ff erty , W all er, Hines and Hatch at the final check. All th e oth er top riders , excep t H awkin s, Jod y Th ornton (Kaw). JR OPEN C: 1. Wes Wyatt (Kaw); 2. Chris McMill an (Kaw); 3. John Backstrom (H an); 4. Brian Pier ce (H us); 5. Jeremy Edge (Yam). SlSR D , 1. Don Knight (TM); 2. Ne al Cooper (Hus) ; 3. Keith Ratcliff (H an ); 4. Gary Doerr (Kaw); 5. Ben Bryant (H on ). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 • Crosbyton, TX. March 31 Round 4 - Wellston. OH, April 28

• Cover