Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SETRAIFTR Enduro Series, Round 1 G,a,;11 It ,. it By Kenneth King Photos by Elalna Jones OCALA, FL, AUG. 25 urrent Southeastern Enduro and Trail Riders Association Enduro and Hare Scrambles Champion Allan Gravitt started the new season off right by taking top honors at the 15th annual Armadillo Enduro held in the Ocala National Forest. The Big Scrub Trail Riders hosted the event, and trail boss Scott Hendrickson did an excellent job laying out a tough but fun course. With temperatures in the low 90s, combined with dry, dusty conditions, Factory KTM rider Gravitt bested a field of over 250-plus riders, including a very strong AA class, with a score of four points. The AA class consisted of curren t Florida Trail Riders Enduro Champion and last year's Big Scrub Enduro overall winner Frank Ramey, along with veteran AA riders Steven Smith, Scott "Cheeseburger" Miller and newly promoted riders Ashley Brewer, Jason Chancey and Mike Martin, for one of the largest AA classes SETRA and FTR have seen in a long time. The first half of the race consisted of 30 miles of tight, sandy trail. This was where most of the points were lost. Gravitt had his job cut out for him as the first section sawall the AA and most of the A riders zeroing the first check. Jason Chancey got caught a little off guard and burned the second check with Mike Martin having a little trouble in the section and dropping one point. The rest of the AA field zeroed the check. The section after that proved to be the major points-taking section, with the majority of the AA class dropping two points each. Miller came up with a three and Martin a four at check four. Smith bowed out early with mechanical problems about 14 miles into the race. This made for a battle among Gravitt, Ramey and Brewer. Ramey sawall hopes of defending last year's overall win come to a sudden stop when he had a close encounter with a very solid Florida pine tree. Luckily, Ramey was not seriously injured, but a trip to the local hospital left him with 10 stitches and a very swollen eye. After Ramey's exit from the race, it became a battle between Gravitt ana. Brewer, with both riders posting identical scores of three points each before the gas stop. After the gas, the riders were greeted with 32 actual miles of tight woods and fast two-track with lots of whoops' thrown in to make things interesting. Chancey burned check six in the first section after the break by a minute, with the remaining AA riders losing no route points. Check seven sawall the AA riders losing two points each and Gravitt took _the lead in his battle with Brewer by dropping one point in this section. Gravitt stayed on the· gas, rode smart and never let go of his lead. The club had some clever check placement, and check nine sawall the AA riders early - along with quite a few of the other riders, some by two or more minutes - with the exception of Gravitt, who zeroed the check: Several of the riders felt that checks eight and nine were off and protested the two checks, but the referees confirmed the C mileage and the checks were found to be okay, and they were kept in. Gravitt posted the low score of the day with a four, followed by Brewer with it seven, two of those points being early ones. Johnny McCoy had an excellent ride, dropping eight points in a four-way tie with Robert Neeley (Senior A), Mathew Davidson (250cc A) and Miller (AA), with McCoy coming out on top in the tie breakers and rounding out the top three overall. He also won the 250cc A class. He battled it out all day with Davidson, who took second in the class. Joey Argentine, a local 250cc A rider and second overall in the FTR Hare Scrambles Series, had problems with his timekeeping and decided to have a little hare scrambles practice, and in the process dropped a total of 161 points, almost all of them early. Nick George won the 200cc A class, dropping only 11 points, and was uth overall. The Vet A class was won by Robert Pearson who edged out onetime FTR Vet A-class champion Artie Spencer on the tie breakers, each rider (Above) KTM's Allan Gravitt opened up the SETRAlFTR Enduro Series in Ocala, Florida, with a big win. (left) Ashley Brewer and Gravitt battled back and forth at the SETRAlFTR Enduro, eventually finishing second overall. 200 A: 1. Nick George; 2. Martin Pruett; 3. Brian Martin. 250 A: 1. Johnny McCoy; 2. Mathew Davidson; 3. Danny Barrett. OPEN A, J. David Wyatt; 2. Larry Griffin; 3. Joey Rowland. 4--STRI< A: 1. Kevin Hodge; 2. John Giles; 3. Gary Crumbacker. VET A: 1. Robert Pearson; 2. Artie Spencer; 3. Cary Williams. SR A: 1. Robert Neeley; 2. Bob Osborne; 3. Phil Henderson. S/SR A; 1. Johnny Thomas. MSTR A: 1. Emmett Cox; 2. Joseph VanSeeters; 3. Kirk Braden. 125 B: 1. David Patterson; 2. Kenny Deloach; 3. Michael Thomas. 200 B: 1. Greg Johnson; 2. Joey West; 3. Matt Roberts. 250 B: 1. Sonny Morabito; 2. Lance Steele; 3. Frank Anello; 4. J.R Cooley. OPEN B, 1. Johnnie Grigsby; 2. Don Dehart; 3. Lee Allen; 5. Phillip Doyle. 4-STRK B, 1. John Harris.. VET B, 1. Dan Jackson; 2. Rkhard Morabito; 3. Bob Granger; 4,. Ricky Jeffords. SR B: 1. Craig Wallace; 2. Ken Hensley; 3. Butch Rons. S/SR B: 1. John Watts; 2. Steve Chancey; 3. Lane Sheppard. MSTR B: 1. Bill Girard; 2. Wayne Meradith; 3. Richard Argabright; Fred Hammond. 125 C: 1. Dewayne Brantley; 2. Scott Weidon; 3. Mike Brantley. ZOO C: 1. George Tolson; 2. Lance Johnson; 3. Barrett dropping 12 points apiece. The Senior class earned some respect with defending class champion Neeley dropping a very impressive eight points for fourth overall and topping his nearest competitor by five points. . Loyd Widener, the defending Masters champion, was riding at the local ORV park when he was speared through his arm by a branch that required a trip to the hospital and quite a few stitches. He was unable to make Sunday's race. The 250cc B class was won by Sonny Morabito, dropping 11 points and plac- ing 11th overall. Rusty Easter won the 250cc C class with a respectable score of 23, beating out Roy McMullen, who dropped 28 points. Kevin Hodge bested all the four-strokes with a score of 18. In the Women's class, Vickie Bull edged out Kathie Frank by one point with a very· good score of 32. Bed<.... 250 C: 1. Rusy Easter; 2. Roy McMullen; 3. John Hoover; 4. Bruce Moffat; 5. Stephan Black. OPEN C: 1. Lon Bugsman; 2. Scott Corlett; 3. Bob Williamson. 4-STRK C: 1. Wayne Andrews; 2. Michael Smith; 3. Hans Wilson. VET C: 1. Greg Luther; 2. Frank Erikson; 3. Clint Johnson; 4. Jim Barrow. SETRAlFTR Armadillo Enduro Ocala, Florida Results: August 25,1996 (Round 1 of 17) SR C, 1. AI Lagasse; 2. Mike Barber; 3. John Day; 4. Harry Masters. S/SR C: 1. Terry Enyart; 2. John Green; 3. Barry Cole. . MSTR C: 1. William Fordham; 2. Larry Walls; 3. Ron Hadley. WM,N: 1. Vicki Bu.l1: 2. Kathie Frank; 3. Elaine Nobles. SPTSMN o-ZOO: 1. Ray Wilson; 2. Bob Keeven; 3. Jennifer Johnston. SPTSMN OPEN: 1. Phil Johnston; 2. Brandon Adamson; 3. Colt Kirkland; 4. Scott West. O/A: 1. Allan Gravitt; 2. Ashley Brewer; 3. Johnny McCoy; 4. Robert Neeley; 5. Mathew Davidson; 6. Scott Miller; 7. Danny Barrett; 8. David Wyatt; 9. Kery Comer; 10. Larry Griffin. AA: 1. Ashley Brewer; 2. Scott Miller. Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Monroe, Georgia - September 1 Round· Cumming. Georgia - September 9 35

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