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National Championship Enduro Series: Round 5
____ EDfTEDBY
CAMERON
COATNEY
By Davey Coombs
File photo by Jay Chittenden
WELlSTON, OR, MAY 4
CR Yamaha's Doug Blackwell is
not known as an enduro talent,
but the cross country and hare
scrambles regular proved himself to be
a worthy candidate for future consideration by putting together a winning
performance at the Little Raccoon Classic Enduro. Blackwell, from Parkersburg, West Virginia, finished ahead of
title contenders Mike Lafferty and
Randy Hawkins to clinch the first
AMA National win of his career. New
Jersey's Lafferty and South Carolina's
Hawkins tied, but Lafferty put his
KTM into the runner-up slot on a tie
breaker.
"Everything went really well and I
just never made a mistake," said Blackwell, 25, who only rides two or three
enduro events a year. "It was kind of a
surprise to win, but then again, I've
done well here in the past, and the rain
really suited my riding. I had a good
number, I rode my own race and just
never let up."
Yamaha riders Robbie Jenks and
Shawn Sommers rounded out the top
five overall in the Little Raccoon event,
which marked the fifth round of the
AMA ational Enduro Series.
The event was produced by the
Appalachian Dirt Riders and started at
the Jackson County Jr. Fairgrounds and
proceeded into the outlying areas. The
enduro was wet and muddy from the
start, though the rain held off for the
most part on the day of the race. Moreover, the recycled trails weren't too
tight, though the approximately 115mile-long course was littered with
obstacles such as mud bogs and offcambered hills to keep the competitors
honest. The southern Ohio soil became
very slick, and the trails seemed to
grow worse with every passing bike.
"The number that you had made a
pretty big difference this time," said
S
...
......
ao
50
Lafferty, who has not finished worse
than second in the five series events to
date and holds a comfortable lead over
Hawkins atop the standings." ot to .
make excuses or anything, but Blackwell
started out on 20, Randy was 25 and I
was 35. By the time [ got to some sections, you could tell there had been lots
and lots of people through. But Doug
beat me and Randy by four minutes, so
he was definitely riding well."
"The conditions were a lot tougher
than they normally would have been,"
Blackwell said. "The virgin section that
they ran in the morning was really
tough - it was a tight section tha t the
rain mac(e even tougher. We dropped'a
lot more points there than we would
have without all the rain."
From the start, Hawkins was underpowered, due to a self-admitted poor
setup. "Sometimes, on myoId bikes, we
used to run two base gaskets to change
the power around a little bit," Hawkins
said of his miscalculation. "We tried it
on the Yamaha and it completely
screwed everything up - the bike ran
like a 200cc instead of a 250cc. It was not
the bike's fault; it was just me and
Dale's (Bohm - Hawkins' mechanic)
decision to make a change. It was two
old veterans making a rookie mistake."
"The very first section was a tough
20-mile section and I got stuck three
times," Lafferty said. "It was pretty
gnarly, but you just had to get through
it. By that time, a lot of people had
called it quits. The trails were definitely
better in the afternoon, because it was
drying out a little, and, with people
dropping out, being on 35 was almost
like being on 25."
"Everybody kept tabs on everyone
and we pretty much knew where everyone was all day long," Blackwell said of
the traffic behind him. "I had a pretty
good lead all day long, so unless something major happened, I knew I was
going to finish ahead of the both of
them. Randy and Mike are going after
the championship, and I didn't want to
get between them and play the spoiler. I
may do some of the remaining enduros
later on in the year, but right now I'm
looking for a win in the GNCC series,
which is my main focus this year."
'1t was a letdown, because [ feel like it
was an event I should have won," said
Ha~kins, who has won the Little Raccoon four times in the past. 'There were
some mistakes on our part, mostly resulting from the fact that our truck broke
down on the way to Ohio from Washington. I didn't even get to use my enduro
bike - I had to use the G CC bike, which
makes a little bit of a difference. But that
was our fault and no one else's. In the
event, I made some wrong calculations
and just had to ride through them."
"I knew that Randy had won this
race the last three or four years, so I
trained extra-hard and really concentrated on beating him here," said Lafferty of
the KTM Sportmotorcycle factory team,
which now holds a lead of 3] points on
Hawkins in the championship rankings.
"I was prepared for the race, but being
stuck so far back on my row, I had to
ride 110 percent just to stay with him
and Doug.i'm just glad I kept going and
could pull it out so that I could tie him
on points and win on seconds. If Randy
gets some momentum, he'll be tough to
beat, so I don't want to let up at all. I'm
just going to keep attacking like I have
all year long."
"I felt pretty good about the fact that
me and Mike tied," Hawkins said about
his title rival Lafferty. '1 think this was
my best ride of the year, though it obviously could have been a little better.
With our setup being the way it was and
all, it was as if we were a motor only
running on eight cylinders instead of 10.
The year just keeps being a learning
curve, but it's getting a little late now.
From here on out, we just need to attack
each race like it's the only one, and try
to get some wins. Mike is sitting in a
great position to win a championship,
but you know how racing is: It ain't
over until it's over."
l'N
(Above) GNCC series regular Doug
Blackwell rode an SCR Yamaha to his
first-ever AMA National Enduro win at
the little Raccoon Classic Enduro in
Wellston, Ohio.
little Raccoon Classic Enduro
Wellston, Ohio
Resuhs: May 4, 1997 (Round 5 of 9)
Olk 1. Doug Blackwell (Yam); 2. Mike Lafferty
(KTM); 3. Randy Hawkins (Yam); 4. Reggie Jenks
(Yam); 5. Shawn Sommers (Yam); 6. Craig Holasek
(Yam); 7. Mike Monroe (Yam); 8. Matt Stavish (Hon); 9.
Gene Onail (Kaw): 10. Tim Taber (Yam); 11. R.J. Bennett
(Yam); 12. Jason Dahners (KTM); 13. Scott Klamfoth
(CRE); 14. John Bennett (Yam); 15. Daniel Foro (Suz); 16.
Marty Kehlmeier (KTM); 17. Jefl Wrighl (KTM); 18.
Jeremy Jarvis (Kaw); 19. Tim Hart (KTM); 20. Scott
Plessinger (KTM).
4-STRK A:. 1. William L. Walters Jr. (Hon).
SR A: 1. Tim Adkins (Hon); 2. John Farrar (KTM); 3.
Lennie Rhoades (Kaw); 4. Steven Hashman (Suz); S.
Tom Channell (Hon),
VET A: 1. Daniel Ford (Suz); 2. Jeffrey Wright
(KTM); 3. Karl Fahringer (KTM); 4. San RanonelU
(Yam); 5. Eric Davis (Suz).
OPEN A: 1. Tim Hart (KTM); 2. Oa vid Poling
(Hon); 3. Robert Kowalili (KTM); 4. Scott Hofmann
(CZJ; 5. Michael Slochta (Hon).
2SO A:. 1. Robbie Jenks (Yam); 2. Shawn Sommers
(Yam); 3. Mike Monroe (Yam); 4. Gene Onail (Kaw); 5.
Robert Bennett (Yam).
200 A:. 1. Scott Klamlolh (CRE); 2. Chris GiUespie
(Kaw); 3. Dennis Buttrick (G·G); 4. Phillip Stevens
(Kaw): S. Ryan Moos (Kaw).
VET B; I. Scott Boldman (Hon); 2. Ray Nolm (Hon);
3. Steve.n Camper (Kaw); 4. Vincent Sacco (Yam); 5.
James Schitzinger (KTht).
sa
B: 1. Bill Matthews (Kaw); 2. John Bradle.y
(Kaw); 3. Steve Barber (Kaw); 4. Jeff Anthony (KTht): 5.
Richard Goldsmith (Hon).
4-STRK B; 1. Larry Henry (!ion); 2. Oave Russell
(Hon); 3. Ray Judson (BSA); 4. Tom Gaittcn (Hon); 5.
Eddie Drew (Hon).
OPEN B: 1. Wayne Perdue (KTM); 2. Jason Jarvis
(KTM); 3. Greg Umstead (KTM); 4. Mike Gramey
(KTht): S. Ronald Miller (KTM).
250 B; 1. Chad Jarvis (Yam); 2. Paul Curry (Yam); 3.
Bart MoUl (Suz); 4. Spencer Rose (Kaw); 5. Mark Lewis
(Yam).
200 B: 1. William Bowers (Kaw); 2. Heath Bennett
(Yam); 3. Jeff Sexton (Suz); 4. Gerry Kerr (Kaw); 5. Isaac
Ackels (Kaw).
WMN: 1. EJaineNobles (Hon)i 2.JenAnderson (Kaw).
S/SR; 1. Joseph Lojak (Yam); 2. J. Vandenberghe
(Suz); 3. Ernie Mellor (KTM); 4, Larry Menefee Cl