Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• ,E D R Round 7: Green Marble Enduro N nduro series UO ECEA E (Left) Richard Lafferty beat a strong field of riders to take the overall win at the ECEA Green Marble ·Enduro In Maryland. (Below) Richard Lafferty's brother Jack J r. made it a Lafferty 1·2 sweep with a runnerup performance. long but spent most of that time win ding th rough greasy botto m land s packed with roo ts, rocks and numerous lesser creek crossings, so me of which became rutted and plenty treacherous. At the secre t check-out no one m ad e up any gro und as all top contenders dropped a three. After a cou ple mil es of blacktop connectors, riders got dumped back into th e w oods for w hat turned ou t to be ano ther short poin ts-taking section. De void of a check-i n , ride rs cruised through mildly rocky low lands run at 24 mph to a secre t check-out and reset locat- r By Mark UthfTrail Ride r Magazine 36 WHITEFORD, MD, JUNE 2 ichard Lafferty and Mar k Spe nce continued to s quare off for th e ECEA End uro Series points lead, trad in g overall victories the last two ro un ds . The latest ski rmish, which occurred at the Green Marble Enduro , found Lafferty piloting his K1M 250 to top honors, his third overall victory of the 1996 season, and regaining the series poi nts lead from Manassas Hond a CR250-mounted Spence. Rich Lafferty con tinued to excel in this, h is coming-ou t year, fighting off stro ng thrusts by his brother Jack Jr. an d Virginia n Spen ce. H ow ever , he managed a mi st ak e-free ride to beat ou t a healthy field of local AA and resurgent A-class rid ers that also incl uded Kevin Bennett, Mike McH ale, Craig Shen igo, Marc Grossman, Craig Coss ab o on , Hank Stankiewitz, Joel Dengler, Michael Moo re and Bill Atkinson. • Run from the Orc hard Campground in W hiteford, more than 300 riders swarmed the event. The Gr een Marble course offered a unique comb inati on o f terrain not fou nd in other series events. Technoid trail cut through tracks of pri vate land enco m passes th e full gamut of enduro obstacl es , including off-cam ber hillsi des, s lick root-infested climbs and drop offs, and mild rockiness through dense undergrowth. For the most part, hill sides and high grounds were d ry and tack y through ope n deciduou s w oods, while the bottom lands provided intermittent snotty conditions, sporadic rockiness, thick jungle-like vegetation and frequent water crossings. Tra il Boss Joe Eperson ha d laid ou t a short, two-loop course w ith midday gas located back a t the campground . The day wou ld cover arou n d 70 grou n d miles, 40 ru n in th e mo rn in g loo p an d 30 in the afte rnoon. All told, five special tests were p la nned with si x p oints tak in g checks, th ree each in the morning and afternoon loop s. The firs t sec tion began rig h t out of the sta rt contro l with near ly eight mile s of tight technica l trail run up and down the sharp ridges and valleys sou th of the ca mpground along the Susquehanna River. Starting with an 18 m ph speed avera ge, th is was bumped to 24 mph about halfwa y through the section. Two ch ecks were foun d w ithin, th e fir st a secret, the final an em ergen cy. Most top . ride rs scooted in to zero the first che ck, the notable ex cep tio ns bein g Bennett and McH ale. All top rid ers dropped one at the fina l chec k-out, Spenc e and Jack Jr . just missing the flip of the card by seven and 11 seconds, respectively. Road and trail connectors b rough t rid ers to the next special test, GMER's White Oak section . A fair ly short piece with a 24 m ph speed average was run through slick bottom lands and sandwic hed 19y checks, the check-ou t again bei ng an emergency check. Kevin Bennett and Richard Lafferty each shaved a poi nt here posting day's-best 2s, while the rest of the fiel d competing for th e overall d ro p ped three. Bennett' s 2-137 was a section best, while Richard's 2-149 just beat t he clock by a single tick. Conversely, Jack Jr. sadly missed the flip by a s ingle second, postin g a 3-151. This ultimately cost him the overall. Timekeepi ng tra il an d b lacktop go t riders back to the campground for refueling and a 30-mi nute break. Standings at the halfway poi nt found Richard Lafferty leading with the onl y 3 card. A stampede of four- p o in t scores were close on h is hee ls, h ow ever, incl u di ng (Above) Winner of the previous ECEA round In Pen ns ylvania, M ark Spence maintained his bid for the series champ ions hip with a third-place ride. (Above right) Rich Trader submerges his bike, while Rudy Egberts searches for high ground. (Right) Kevin Benn ett was the topfinish ing four-stroke rider, taking fifth overall on a Husaberg. brother Jack [r., who led the emergency points battl e at this junctu re. Second loop reset odome ters to zero and started with nearly 10 m iles of road connectors, eventually lead ing to the check-in to the Broad Creek section. This points-taker included a formidabl e creek crossing less than a mile into the section that, despite a fairly low water level, still ma naged to drown out a handful of riders. Th e tes t was on ly fou r-p lus-m iles ed at mile 24. Again, all the entire go-fast crew post identical tw o-point scores. The final section, a 5-mile pus h to the known checkpoint, was ru n at 24 mph . Simi lar to the d ay ' s opening test, the course made use of trail wou nding u p and down short sharp hills so ut h of the campground. The test was p receded by a check -in an d cause d a uni versal point loss at the Kno wn checkpoint. Here, a ha ndful of riders p osted 3s, incl udi ng

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