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EVENTS
t(TM-mounted
Rich Lafferty
bro ke Fred
Hoess' string ot
ECEA Enduro
ser ies victor ies
by winning the
Beehive Endur o
in Mau ricetown.
New Je rsey.
By Mark Uth , Trail Rid er Magazin e
Photos by Barry Seppy
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32
MAURICE1DWN, NJ, AUG. 24
ichard Lafferty used a flaw less
ride to break a string of ECEA
enduro overall victories post ed
by series p o i n ts lea d e r Fred
Hoes s, claiming top hono rs at the 1997
Beehive Enduro. Earning his second
Grand Champion tro phy of the season,
Lafferty bested se ries riv als Hoess, who
retir ed with mech ani cal problems on the
final A-only loop , an d Richard's brother
Jack, who finished in his all-too-fami liar
ru nner-up slot.
"1 had one of those rema rkable da ys
where everything wen t right," Lafferty
sa id . " My KTM's mo tor was barking
and its suspension seemed to be set perfect fo r the terrai n," Of course, th at's little su rp ris e, as the ent ire La ffert y clan
hails from nearby Port Elizabeth, just a
few miles up the river.
This year' s runni ng saw absolutely
ideal race-day weather conditio ns with
cool morning temperatu res around the
6Q-degree mark and a daytime high th at
migh t have just tipped BO. On e potential
question mark. however, was the condition of the course 's lowlands. More th an
a foot of rain fell locally on the Wednesday nigh t /Thu rsday morn ing prior to
the event. Fear s 01 poten tiall y floo ded
t ra il cond itions we re all for na ught,
ho wever, as this watering actually mad e
things jus t about perfect, with nice, firm,
berm -building loam a n d a co m p le te
abse nce of d ust. The o nly tra d e-offs
were a co uple o f extra mudholes and
so me m ino r rutting in th e lower section s, non e of which proved too hazardous,
Nearly 350 entran ts lined up for the
start- located a little wa y down the road
from the Mauri cetown Fire House. CDR
trailbosses planned the us ual three-loo p
romp throu gh the mostly open, deciduous forest of second-growth pi ne.and
gnarly laurel patches of the Cumberland
County co u n trys ide. Ea ch loo p co n -
talned a single points-tak ing section and
en ded with a known control, providing
ad di tio nal fre e time coming into and
departin g each gas stop . A com bination
of previously ron and fresh trail sections
m a d e fo r a good rid in g rh y thm th at
proved to be way too much fun at nontimekeeping speeds.
After the obliga tory blacktop connectors leadi ng from town an d some minor
woods trail to warm things up, the first
section began wit h a check-in, some 20
mil es in to th e ride. Th e 4..m ile sec tion
wa s ron at 18 m ph and ended w ith an
emergency check-ou t jus t before the first
gas stop. As has been the norm at Beehi ve End uros fo r years, tig ht scoring
would find riders separated by seco nds,
wit h th ose who m ake th e card fli p s
doing well, while th ose who don' t end
up fru strat ed a nd d isa p poin ted . This
firs t sec tion p roved that th is was to be
the case on the day as well, as top ride rs
all completed the section within a 20-to30-second spa n, while the lu cky ones
were d eep in to the four-m inute range.
This grou p included Rich and Jack Laf-.
ferry, Frank Vanaman and Mike Moore,
wh o posted a section-best 4 / 255.
Shortly after the che ck-o ut was the
first gas sto p . Most riders cut the 30minute gas-stop break short to soak up
the free time out of the gas stop; the free
time wa s exten ded to nearl y four miles,
due to an oddball 13 mph speed average. Thi s continued for app rox im ate ly
eight miles, en d ing with a speed change
to 24 and an ensuing check-in.
The second-loop speci al test provided a short, 3-mile section with a secret
check-o u t, again jus t prior to the second
ga s stop. Rich La fferty and streaki ng
250cc A pilot Dwayn e Shirk set benchmark tw o-point scores through th e section, wh il e a bo atlo a d o f top rid e r s
trailed with three po ints do wn.
Another 30·mi n u te respite was followed by more blasting free time out of
the gas sto p . Soon a fte rw ar d, rid ers
were checked into another points-taker,
th is time a len gthy se ction tha t m ade
use of some gnarly trail originally cut
for an Expert -only test. Run at 24 mph,
the tight sections - hewn through stands
of tall m ountain lau rel. as well as several min or sw am p crossings - took th eir
toll at th e emergency check-out, Here,
the La ffe rty b oy s a n d Moore posted
fives.Ta ck Jr. getting the nod wi th a section-best 5/303. After the checkout, the
loop split, wit h 8-, C- and specialty-c lass
riders riding connectors back to the firehouse, wh ile A and AA rid er s headed
off to a sta rt con trol and the much-anticipated A-only loop .
Prior to the A loop, Rich Laffe rty
held a slim one- poin t advantage over
co m peti to rs Moore, Jack La fferty and
Hoess, 11 poi nts to 12. Frank Vanaman
re m ai ne d in the hun t with 13 points
sho wing on his card, while a handful of
lo ng .shots tr ailed wi th l-t-point ca rds.
Wh at was in store for A riders was a 12·
m ile section of fresh trail cut in to second-growth timberlands of several overgrow n g ra ve l p it s that w o uld
u ndoub te d ly decide the race. Short,
steep hill crossings, o ff-ca m ber trails
and acute swi tchbacks all se rved to slow
speeds well bel ow th e sc hed uled 24
m ph speed average. At o ne point, th e
tra il burst ou t o nto a pa ved roa d for a
2lJO-yard sprin t down the closed-course
blacktop - wh ich wasn't the ticket for
motor longevity after slogging through
the tight stuff for several miles. This precipitated mo tor tro uble for some - most
notably ECEA points leader Hoess, as
he stuck his moto r wi th a seized crank
sho rtly thereafter. Riders soldiered on
through technical trai l, fina lly coming to
a m id loop emergency check so me six
mil es in. Th in gs opene d up just a tad
th rou gh the back half, although a cou ple
of tricky mudholcs prov ed tr ouble for
some.
The event ended with another emergency check an d, when th e d us t sett led,
Rich Lafferty sho wed how bad he rea lly
wanted it, smo ki ng th ro ugh the loop
w hile co llecting e ig h t- a n d 12- poi nt
sco res at the mid point and end checks,
respectively, for a tota l of 20 th rou gh the
sectio n. Th is added an excla m a tion
poin t to h is somewha t tenuous le ad
go ing into the section and another Overall trophy to the Lafferty collection, to
boot. Bill Atkinson, attempting to overcome a so-so morning ride, roosted in a
p oint behind Richard, going 9-12 and
actually posting the fastest time at the
final che ck-out, a near 5O-second margin
over winner Lafferty. TMl25-mounted
Jeff Kirchner showed hi s mettle, going
9-13, while a host of other riders, inclu ding M oore, Vanaman, Dwayne Sh irk
and Jack Lafferty posted 914 scores. The
A riders then made th eir wa y back to
the fireho use, where cards were collected at an observation check.
Results were tallied and posted in a
tim el y manner, with none of the d ifficulties that have pl agued recent Beehive
Enduros. Richard Lafferty g raci ously
accepted th e Grand Champion honors
on the merit of hi s 31-po int card, while
lauding th e performance o f hi s KTM .
Jack La ffe rty Jr . a nd Moore each fin ished 35 points down, with Jack earning
th e second o verall seeding based on
eme rgency points in spite of several hellacious cras hes experienced d u ring th e
rid e. Moore filled o ut the podium in
third overall. Atkinson, Kirchner and
Vanaman each posted 36-po int finishes.
Atkinson used a strong A-loop sho wing
to claim fourth overall, w hile Kir chner
and Van aman fini shed fifth and six th
overall, respectively. Top A-elass honors
ag ain went to a high-flying Shirk, who
piloted his KX250 to the High Point tr0phy with a score of 36. The HPA runnerup tw o points beh ind was XR400 rider
Mark Hummel.
.
In other classes, Vet-class rider
Andrew Bradway post ed good numbers, earning the H ig h Point B prize
handily, 14 points down on the abbreviated course. Paul Biting wa s his closest
thr eat, finis hing three poi nts behind at
17. Top C-elass scores we re all found in
th e 250cc C class. KX250 rider Wayne
Vadermark ea rned th e High Poin t C
hon ors by d ro p p ing 19 po ints. C-c1ass
rival s Lew Cha rlesworth, Eric Reeves,
Mike Sharp and Chris Vecchion e wer e
the High Point C ronner-ups on the day,
each finishing 22 points down. Dan Van
Drie l edged ou t Joe Galie Sr. by a poi nt
for the Mast ers-class win, while Kathi
Campbell prevailed over a well-attended Women's class. Chris Nolan and Pete
Wright were top fin ishers in th e Trail
and Dual Sport classes, respectively. ('X
Beeh ive End uro •
Mauricetown. New Jersey
Results: August 24. 1997
O'A: 1. Richard Lafferty (KTM).
HP A: 1. Dwayne Shirk (Kaw).
HP B: J. Andf\"W Broldway (Suz).
HP C: I. W" ytlP V&