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.E D R N U O'. Round 4: New England Championship Enduro . NETRA Enduro series (Above left) Forty-year-old Kemp Stewart showed the younger riders how It' s done by winning the New England Championship Enduro. (Abov e) Paul Milliken scored the win In the Lightweight A class. (Left) The top B rider was Gary Szlachetka . ewer Jnes ~ By Paul ClipperlTra li Rider Magazine Photos by Jay Chittenden SOMERS, cr;JUNE 9 rior to the New England Championship enduro, Kemp Stewart faced the dilemma that confronts every new 40-year-old : Do I enter the Senior class, or stick with the 250cc class and concentrate on the overall? For Kemp it was a real problem, since he was the NETRA enduro champion of 1993, and is always a contender for top finishes. But then again, he was officially over the hill this year. Could he still cut it with the young kids out there? It tu rn ed out not to be a n issue. Kemp entered the 250cc class as usual, on his '96 Husky 250 prepped by Valley Mot o rspo rts, and th en led the points chase fro m halfway th rough the day, capitalizing on every m istak e m ad e by his com petitors. At th e finish only two points separa ted the top seven riders, and Kemp once aga in d emon st rated that old age and cra ftin ess every now and th en d o triumph over yo u th an d good looks. The end uro sta rte d ou t of the Fou r Tow n Fairgro un ds in Some rs, Connecticu t, and imme d iately ho pped int o the tight, rocky wood s. It w as a short 4-miIe-plus section, but impossible a t the 24-mph average on th e route sheet. This section, held on a local farm close by the fairgrounds, was new last yea r, and improved up on and tightened up this yea r. The trail crosses back and forth between grass-track-style racing in old pasture land an d typ ical open New P (Left ) Sherry Landry carded the win In the Wome n's div is ion. England wo ods, an d the usu al NETRA fireballs jumped out into the points lead. James Kell y was the fas test rider thr ou gh the section, w ith a 3:52. Kelly is always a threat at a NETRA en duro, and has won overall in the past, so the pressure was on - but it was short-lived. Th e se co nd che ckpoin t was easily ze roable, es pecia lly with such a fas t time through the first section, but somehow Kelly fell back and ended up dropping a point, while a large han dful of r id er s - incl u d ing Ste w a rt - carded zero es. Darrell Szl achetka came very close to beating Kelly' s score through the first section, himself carding a 3:55. Dar- rell then kept it together throu gh the second and thir d checks (both zeroes), and . became the man to beat at that point. Stewart, meanwhile had completed th e firs t sec tion in a resp ectab le 4:11, while Paul Milliken also beat him with a 4:10. Both rid ers ze ro ed th e ne xt tw o checks withou t a problem. The fourth check was a snea ky one, and some thing you don't see too often in New Eng la nd even ts . It w as a tie breake r check, bu t easi ly ze roable. w hic h always presents a p roblem of choice for the rid ers: Do you rus h into it a nd hope the nex t section is tou gh enough to ea t up th e extra seco nds you'll card, or d o .you pla y it safe and peg -w al k to th e 3D -seco nd mark and "z ero-ze ro " th e che ck? A seni or rid er like Stewart has played this game many times bef ore, and he wisel y chose the safe route this time, walking the bike in to a pe rfect 0:30. Szlachetka decided to hurry in, and carded a 0:10, while Milliken hit it at 0:20. Kelly had trouble in the section and went over his minute before the check, effectively ending his bid for the overall. At this time, at the fourth ch eck , Szlach etka still ha d the lead, although he had piled up more emergency points than Stewart, which woul d be his u ndoing in the end. The fifth check was a one-pointer for most of the top riders, although Milliken stumbled and d rop ped two in the check, and that moved him off the leader' s pace. Szlachetka was carrying four points to Stewa rt's five, and everyone else had six or better. But the ride wasn't over. It looked like the turning poi nt was happening at the eigh th che ck, where Stewart dropped a single point and Szlachetka lost concentration and scored a 2, but then at the following check Stewart was running out of steam and scored a 3, whil e Szlachetka held on for ano ther 2. Szlachetka was still beating Stewart by a point, and it looked as if he'd hold it all the way to the finish. It ne ver pays to co unt chicke ns