Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127858
(Lell) A llen Gra vitt rode his KTM 200 ElXC U mlted Edillo'n model to th e overall w in at the
open ing ro und of t he SETRA Enduro Series, the Armadillo Enduro, In OCala, Florida.
By K e n n eth K ing
OCALA. FL, AUG. 24
T M's Alle n Gravitt was all
smiles at th e finish line of th e
SETRA Armadillo Enduro, and
he had good reason: He had jus t
won the Arm ad illo End uro for the second yea r in a row . But tha t wasn' t the
only reaso n Gra v.i tt was sm iling. H e
raced KIM's all-new 200 E / XC Limited
Editi on and had a great time.
"I rode good today - never had any
problems, a n d} ju s t love th at bike,"
Gr avitt sa id . '" feel' can do an ythi ng on
it ; , can ju st throw it aro u nd . It really
gives me a lot of confidence - m aybe too
much."
Gravitt took the win with a tw o-point
card. Ste ven Smith, who holds the number-two sp ot in the SETRA series, finished second overall with a three-point
Joss and Franklin Ramey III, SETRA's .
grand champion, rounded out th e top
three. Ramey had a few problems on the
day, but still managed to d rop just three
points.
The end uro was the opening round
o f the SETRA Enduro Series and was
hosted by the Big Scrub Trail Riders out
of Ocala, Florida. One word that pretty
much d es cr ib es ra ces in Fl orida is
"san d ," a nd the Armadillo was n o
exception. The trails were sandy, wi th
some sections quit e deep, and whooped
ou t in many areas. Racers were expecting tight, brutal sectio ns, bu t th e club
decided to spare riders and instead used
open trail s connected by fast fire roads.
There were to be two long points-taking
sections, but a federall y endangered
plant that was found in the area halted
the use of the sections. Not many riders
complained.
At the start of th e race, riders were
greeted with pleasant temperatures and
dear skies . A ra instorm in the a rea
deposited rain everywhere in the forest
excep t on the course, so it was going to
be dusty. The club placed eig ht checkpoints throughout the trail to time the
rid ers, b ut faster t rails and the use of
two-track trails had m ost of the fas ter
riders zeroing all of the checks but one. .
(Abo v e) Last
year 's SETRA
Grand Champion,
Franklin Ramey III
(130), fi ni shed
second overall.
(Lell) Steve
Saunders (319)
won the 250cc A
class and finished
a fine fourth
overall.
It was a race where you really had to
wa tch your clock.
The first check was at 6.80 miles an d
was a going-in check to a 11.2-mile section. The fas t guys stayed on time, but
the average score was a one-point loss .
Ch eck four came afte r a few jeep roads
at 26 miles, an d qui te a bit of contro versy su rrounded this check as quite a few
rid ers, including AA rider Ashley Brewer, burned the check. The club checked
the mileage and found everyth ing to be
in order .
The gas stop was located on a powerline road at the 300mile mark. 250cc A
rider Jason Chancey held the lead on his
KTM w it h the best tie-breaker score.
Chancey zeroed the check and cam e in
29 secon ds into hi s m inute at the tiebreaker ch eck. Fellow 250cc A rid er
David Baxley wa s in second after coming in 28 seconds into his m inute, and
another 250ce A rider, Steve Saunders,
came in at 25 seconds into his minute.
The AA riders followed, with Smith and
Ramey with 21 second scores and
Gra vitt with 16. At the gas s to p, it
looked like the 250cc A rid ers were takingcharge.
There w a s a re set foll owed by a
chec k at 39.60 m iles and check six, at
43. 6 m iles, sa w a lmos t eve ryone o n
time. This was a goi ng-in check for the
toughest section of the day and was the
only real poin ts-taker. The section was
almost 6 mil es long. but it was first-gear
tig ht with b rief stretches w here riders
could o pen up into second gear. The
temperature had risen in to the low 90s
by now, and that would playa m ajo r
factor w ith so m e riders. MSR -backed
Gravitt really cranked the 200 up in the
tight stuff and dropped the lowest score
through the section with a 2:42. Moosebacked Smith had the second-best score
with a 3:01.
'" just rode as best as , could," Smith
said. " It was a fu n race. A good fir st
race, but ' wi sh ' would have cranked it
up a litt le more in that tight section."
Ramey had the third-best score with
a 3:03.
"They (the promoting cl ub) re ally
di d n't have enough poin ts- taking sec -
tions for me," Ramey said. "I mean, one
tough section isn't enough for an
enduro, but' suppose they did the best
they could."
250cc A rider Saunders rode his RM
to a 3:14 time, securing him first in the
class. Chancey took the runner-up spot
with a 3:54. .
Check number eight, at 55.20 miles,
checked the riders into the last section of
the d a y, which was almost 16 miles
long. The trail was mostly fast with twotrack to break it up. Once again, the fast
gu ys zeroed the section. If you did ge t
behind, there were enough jeep roads to
help yo u ca tch ba ck up. Eve ryone just
cooled off in th e last section and h ad
fun.
"I just can't say enough about th e
bike (the KIM ZOO)," said Gravitt about
his winning rid e. "I just have a lot of fun
riding it. , can't wait to ge t to South Carolina next weekend and ride it on some
hard g ro und ."
'"
Armadillo Enduro
OCala, Florida
Resuhs: August 24, 1997
011.; 1. A1lt>n C r.avitt (2).
AA: 1. StPVt'I'l Smith (3}; 2. Franklin R.uney m (3).
OPEN A : 1. ~f Wingu.rd (5); 2. 1..an'y Griffin (6); 3.
K