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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127859
By Mark Ulh , Tra il Rider Magazine
SHIPPE,",SBURG, PA, SEPT. 7
ic ha r d La ff er ty d rop p ed six
po ints en rou te to scoring his second ECEA End uro Series ov era ll
w in in as m an y tries at the Michaux
End uro . The event was a tricky contes t
that saw few to p com petito rs - other
than Laffer ty - avoid the sting of course
hot p oi n ts. As a resu lt , many of the
yea r's most consistent rider s, including
series poin t leader Freddy Hoess (fifth
overall) and mult i-time champion Jack
Lafferty Jr. (] Oth overall), finished we ll
down in the sta ndings.
However, there we re a numbe r of
up-and -coming op port u nity seeke rs,
includi ng KDX2()().mounted Sea n Cully,
w ho burs t ou t of the B·class ranks to
cl a im secon d-ove rall ho n o rs w it h a
seve n-poi nt card . A fas t but often inconsistent Mike Sigety used the oppo rtu nity
as well, piloting hi s RM1 25 to third .
ove rall and ea rn ing th e Hi gh Po int A
trophy, despite pos tin g an eig ht- poin t
ca rd th at included a two-point burn.
Right on Sigety' s hee ls was A Heavyweight-class co mpetitor Dean Spencer,
wh o filled th e fou rth-overall slo t while
also finishing eight po ints down.
The lineup at the Big R at start, located atop 'South Mountain in the Michaux
State For est , was just a tad shy of 200
co m p etito rs . The sk ies w ere overcas t,
and th er e were co m fortable 70-d egree
tem pera tu res most of the day, altho ugh'
lig h t East Co ast humid it y kept th ings
from being perfect. Sho we rs threa ten ed
all da y but never materialized and, wi th
th e da y' s very dust y co ndi tio ns , rain
would no d oubt have bee n welcomed.
The Sou th Penn Enduro Riders (SPERl
laid out a course that tra versed fast,
craggy trails thr ough m ostly o pe n
deciduous forest. Connectors were open
wood roads strewn with loos e rocks and
marked with d eep eros ion chas ms . The
SPER event is arguably the easiest rock
run on th e ECEA card . Short sec tio ns,
ple nty of open trail and generous resets
keep even the spodeliest rock rider on
time and having fun . There is, however,
a dark s id e to the e ve n t, as the high
speeds required for co mpe titive ness in
the e ven t are pl enty ri sky over trails
strewn with loose boulders > a proven
recipe for big get -offs. A com po und ing
factor on this day was the fine Pen nsylvania soil, which was quickly whipped
u p into fine, choking dust that slowed
and impeded followi ng riders.
A two- loop course was planned with
a midday gas stop available, lo cated
back at Big Flat. Roughly 80 ground
miles total, the ride wa s unevenly split
into 45 miles for th e morning loop and
another 35 miles after lunch . Departing
the start co n tr ol, it w a s soon learned
that trickery was to be the th eme of the
day - beginning immed iately , with a
subtly di sguised observation check that
man y riders mi stook for a ch eck-in.
Assuming three miles of free time thereaft er, many racers ro osted off, only to
enco u nte r a tim e-k eeping chec k a mil e
or so later, which was burned by ho rdes
of co n fu sed riders. Afterward, some
sho rt connectors led to a rare check-in,
followed by a three-plus-mile section of
singl e-tra ck irail. At th e e mer ge n cy
chec k-ou t, a handful o f top rid ers
zeroed the test, while a nearl y equal
amount posted hot points. On the positive side of that equati on , Richard lafferty , Cull y, Sigety, Mark Hummel, Ken
Law, Craig Shenigo, Bill Atkinso n, Marc
Grossman, Mik e Ar endasky and Mike
Slechta carded go os e eg g s. N otable
burns were tallied by H oess, Mike
Moo re and Jack Lafferty.
After a reset , th e rid er s headed off,
soon enteri ng the wood s and find ing
themselves driven off the heady 30 mph
speed average. After several mites, there
was a secret check-ou t - check num ber
four - and agai n top scores vari ed greatly . Early fro nt-ru n ne rs Laffe rty, Cully
and Sigety a nd a n hand fu l of others
posted twos, w hil e Hoess, Moore an d
H ummel each shaved a point to com e in
at one down. Most surp risingly, A-class
co m petitors Dean Spence r and Rob
Mohn - each of w ho m ha d coincidentalIy burned the day's firs t check - zeroed
th e check -o ut . Check five wa s a timekeeper withou t not e, zeroed by nearly
all . The morning loo p closed with two
final points-taking chec ks, each of which
foll owed s ho r t tr ail sec tio n s run at
speed . Within this stretch was the infamous Michau x downhill , a killer
descent that still brings goose bumps to
the savviest of rid ers . Reels full of crashand-burn footage cou ld no doubt have
been filmed.
.
At th e final tw o chec ks , our fro n trunners\ were again ou tsco red as th e 12s p o sted by th e Laffe rty brothe r s,
Cully, Sigety, Atkinso n, Hummel and
Spencer were outsnoo kered by the 0-25
carded by Mike and Dan Moore and by
Joe Wallace' s 1-1 tally. Hoess d ropped
four through the tests, going 2-2 to ad d
to his morning-loop woes . From there, it
wa s back to the start for refueling and a
rest. At the race' s midpoint, a tangle of
rid ers were knotted with fi v e-point
ca rds, including Rich La ffer ty, Cully,
Sigety, Mik e and Dan Moore. Besting
that crew by a single stroke at four
points down wa s an unassuming Bill
Atkin son, who was quietly avoiding
co n tr o ve rsy and h ot p oints whil e
putting in a great performance aboard
his KTM.
The afternoon loop saw little change
from the roller-coaste r rid e of a morni ng
loo p, as there were mo re burns, protests
and associated wild scoring. Th e club
reran severa l morning se ctions in the
process of sp licing in six more checks. A
s ho rt d is ta n ce out of th e gas sto p , a
chec k-in s ignaled the s tar t of SPER's
dread ed "hell trail," a 3-t0-4- mile crawl
over bony ridges an d grani te. Trickery
was again used , as a whopping 60 mph '
speed average was posted for th e first
mile of the test, which late r dropped to a
meek 10 mph. As a result of the speedaverage shenanigans, a whole bunch of
top riders burned the check-out, with
the hardest h it being front-runner
Atkinson, who rolled in two minutes
early, droppin g se ve n hot p oints and
any chance at th e ove rall. Hoess, Sigety,
and Mike and Dan Moore each card ed
two hot points, while numerous rid ers
avoided the pitfall entirely. Those zeroin g th e sectio n in clud ed th e Laffer ty
boys, Cully and Spencer.
Th e bala nce o f th e rid e co n tained
only o ne re al poin ts-taker, a ltho ug h ·
the re were four checks to follow. Checks
10 and 11 were tim ekeepers for most ,
while check 12 came aft er a 3-m ile section of bony trail. Even that emergency
check-out was zero ed by Hoes s, Mike
Moore and Jack Lafferty. The da y' s final
two checks cam e after s ho rt stints into
th e woods co m bined with hi gh-speed
ave rages. So me riders ca rd ed zeroes
while o thers dropped a point o r two .
Tim Shepps, Jack and Rich Lafferty each
avoi ded gelling ca ug h t by an y h ot
points and dropped a single di git for the
entire loop. That finis h, combined with a
stro ng morn ing showi ng , gave Richard
six for the day and earn ed him the overall win .
With th e Grand Championship
d e cid ed, head s turned to KDX2 00mounted B-class rid er Cully, who posted an am a zin g seven ca rd en rou te to
second-ov erall honors and the High
Po int B tr ophy . An e xperienced
motocr osse r, no doubt Cully will soon
be challenging for A-class ho nors wi th
finish es like that. The th ird -overall slot
was fill ed by Sigety, who ea rned th e
High Point A pri ze for his trouble. Runner-up to the HPA and fourth overall
was Spencer. Series poi nts leader Hoess
fini sh ed a d isappointing fifth overall.
Hoess was plenty d isappoi nted with the
outcome, claiming that the even t was
N un fair test that rewarded riders who
an
gambled ." Mind you, had Hoess avoided hot points (at th e co ntes ted checks
three and nin e), he w ould have finished
with a five - but hey, that 's racing .
In th e runner-up spo ts to th e Hi gh
Point B with 10-point cards were Kevin
Sch uler a nd Dan Fos ter, who finished
one-two in the 250cc B class, respectively, and nearly made the top 14 overall.
The High Point C trophy went to 250ccclass rider M. Stra uss with a respectable
12 score , wh ile Ho nd a XR p ilot G reg
Bowers earned High Point C runner-up,
."
d ropping 19.
Michaux Enduro
Shippe nsburg. Pennsylvania
Results: september 7. 1997
G RAN D CHA M PIO N : 1. Richard Lafferty (KTM ).
HP A: Mike Siltloty (Suz).
HP B: Sl".a.n Cully (K.1w).
HP C: M . Stra~ (Suz) .
AA:. 1. Rich L..ffmy (KTM ); 2. Frt"d
Mi k. :' Moun' (YoIm ); 4 . J.IIk. Ltf(prty
1
:
Kirchn("f(lM).
H~
(Suz); 3.
Jr. (KTM); S. Je.f(
125 A: l.Mikt" Sige ly (Su zl ; 2. M. Dea n Spencer
IHon): 3. Eric l'irit"(Hon): 4. Bob Asonis (G-C).
(Abo ve) Rich Lafferty won his second
ECEA Enduro in a row when he won the
Michaux Enduro In Shippensburg .
Pennsylv ania.
115 B: 1. Lrwi:t Robb ins (Suz); 2. Joe Mar ch e:;.ani
(Ya m); 3 . ji m Rink (Hu."); 4. Stevt" Fox (KTM ); S. Dave
Sharpe (G-GJ.
200 A; 1. Tim ShcpF' ()<;aw); 2. Rob Mo hn (Kaw ); 3.
To m Qui nn IKew ), 4 . Ro n Lucas ( Ka w ); 5. Troy
Cooper.unith (Kaw l.
200 H: 1. Sca n Cul ly (Kaw ); 2 Cccegc Pctts (K.1w);
3. Mike Lagola (K.1 w ); 4. George Sig ler (Ka w); 5. Chris
Ellis (Yam) .
200 C: 1. Rick Rittel (Yam) ; 2. Giuseppe Bergami
(Kaw ); 3. Te rry YicnWlt(K.1w).
250 A: I. Ed Hamilton (Kaw ): 2. Chri s Eyric h
(KTM); 3. Mike An.-ndas ky (K.1 w ); 4. Jeff Moyer (K.1w);
.
5. Brian Russe l (Kaw).
250 8 : 1. Kevin Schu ler ()(a w l; 2. Dan F05h,-'T ()(a w );
3. Pe te Burnett (Ya m l; 4. . Sea n Kinley (Suz); 5. Ray
McRown (K.1w).
250 C: 1. M . Str a us:; (Su:t:); 2. K. P lumer ()(a w): 3.
Ste ve Rice; 4. Mike- Sharp (Suz>; 5. C Brenizer (Ka w].
OPEN A: I . Dean Spe
ncer (KTM); 2. Dan Moo re
(KTM); 3. Jim Wri ght (KTM); 4. Mark M oyer (A
.
5.
Mi ke Slec h ta (Hen) .
OPEN 8: I. George Engli5h (KTM); 2. Joe Calie Jr.
(KTM); 3. Scutt Gra ver (KTM); 4. Rob Wh ite (KTM ); 5. S.
Jam il;()f\(yam) .
OPEN C: 1. Iascn Forte (Ka w); 2. Ken Sa ubie n
(I(TM): 3. Ty P1umD\t. CHon) ; 4. M Bam bardt (Ano.
"I'
VET A : 1. Ken Law (eREl; 2. Rich MoYe!'