Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ENDURO AMA NATJONAL ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES • maybe three on Randy. 1 was sitting pretty good going into the last section." "The trail started out in the mornillg with a 6-miIe'section through the clearcut and then on and off some Jeep roads and some tight stuff," Hawkins said. "If I'm not mistaken, Mike went 2:50, Ty went 2:51 and 1 went 3:08. We all pretty much zeroed into the next check and the first gas stop. The next section Mike went three-nine and Ty and 1 each showed a four. We pretty much were all together for a while after that." "We had three or four late checks and then we tied throughout the whole thing, so 1 still had my two minutes in tact," Lafferty said of the endgame. "1 had Randy by three or four- but he ran out of gas as well, and he doesn't have reserve, .so he lost a few more minutes over that. 1 just kept going and charged, and 1 pulled it off. But when 1 came to the end 1 thought I'd blown it. 1 figured that those guys would riQ.e trouble-free and make up all the.time on me. 1 kept saying to myself, 'I'm losing it! I'm losing it!' Turns out 1 didn't lose the time at alL" By Davey Coombs SHELTON, WA, APR. 20 or the third time in four events, Team KTM Sportmotorcycles' Mike Lafferty scored the overall win in the AMA National Enduro Championship Series. This time Lafferty, from Millville, New Jersey, mastered a loosely packed trail of more than 100 miles to better Kawasaki factory pilot Ty Davis and SCR Yamaha's Randy Hawkins to extend his points lead over these two riders in the title chase. Rounding out the top five overall were Honda-mounted Matt Stavish and New Englander Kevin Hines. "1 thought 1 blew it," said a relieved Lafferty after being offjcially declared as the winner. "Going into the last 40mile section, 1 had a two-point lead, but 1 had so many things go wrong that 1 thought Randy and Ty had caught me. My brake pedal broke off to the point where there was only a piece sticking off, and that happened right off the bat. 1 lost my goggles after 1 hit a ditch so hard they flew off, and then right before 1 got to the end, 1 ran out of gas. Even with all that trouble 1 kept going and going and it turned out that Ty and 1 had the same exact scores, so 1 was okay for the win." Lafferty was helped into the winner's circle by mechanic Alan Randt. The fourth round of the 1997 AMA National Enduro Series was hosted by the Puget Sound Enduro Riders near Shelton, Washington, on a long, fairly fast trail measuring more than 100 miles in length, most of which was covered with shallow pools of water. "The course was pretty much wideopen stuff but it was fun, even with all F (Above) KTM's Mike Lafferty recorded his third win of the AMA National Enduro serles In Washington, extending his series lead over Randy Hawkins. (Right) A slipping clutch hurt Hawkins' chances, and he would finish up In third right behind Ty Davis. j ~ 1 the water and all," Lafferty said of the course. "It wasn't really muddy, but instead had a lot of gravel and hard stone. When it rained it just made huge mud puddles everywhere. That was the crappy part, because it rained in the morning, but at the end of the day it was really nice, but the trail stayed really wet. We were just getting splashed all day long." "It was typical Washington weather and that defined the_ race," said Hawkins, the multi-time AMA National Enduro Series Champion. "It was a hard-packed terrain and a lot of splashy mud, not the thick stuff. In the afternoon it actually started to get ta9

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