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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127862
AMAINETRA Enduro series,R 6
ound
Norton
•
win
reyl c
Encfur
Kevin Graham w on the
Great Lakes Road
Rac in g Assoc iation's
Expert Michigan Grand
Prix , held at th e Grattan
Intern ational Speedway.
By Paul Clipperrrrail Rider Magazine
Photo by Cheri Alix
LEE, MA, SErf. 7
mmy Norton had one of those rare
days in end uro riding where nothing seemed to go wrong. "I fou nd a
pace tha t was as fast as I wa s comfo rtable with, and I stuck wit h it all day," he
sa id . "If I wen t any faster than that, I
kno w I would 've killed myself."
It cou ld be true, for h is three-point
card afterward had NETRA's top com - .
petitors shaking their heads in disbelief.
T he KTM / An swer /Cliff's Cy cles / ALoop /Dunlop/Dyno Port / Uni FiItersponsored rider ne ver p u t a wh ee l
wrong all day and fini shed a full fiv e
po ints be tt er th an Jason Ca yer and A
Ban tam rid er Hans Ne ff, who both carded out with eight points.
The G rey lock Riders MC - named for
M ount Greyl ock, the highest peak in
Massachuse tts - wound up having good
co n d i tio ns for it s a n n ua l r id e, w ith
morning mist and d rizzle givin g wa y to
a so mew ha t overcast bu t clea r afternoon
with moderate temperatures. The co urse
wa s typical rock y west ern Ma ssachusetts terrain, winding up and d own the
hill s o f th e Beartown a n d O ctober
Mountain state fores ts. On e ben efit of all
th e trail work imposed by th e Massachusetts OEM was permission to use a
considerable am ount of new and resurrected trail for th e event, and the Greylock Rid er s had better th an 80 g rou nd
m iles of excelle nt terrai n o n which to
tes t the faithful. A lot of th e more open
trails were used orig ina lly in the 1973
ISDT a nd in p rev ious Berkshi re Tr ials
eve nts - but when you ' re stu ck on a hillside ca rt road, hung u p on a roo t, the
historical significance of the area d oesn' t
impress.
Norton had ple nty of company right
off th e s ta r t, a s all of the top rid e rs
matched scores or came very close. Second-check zeroes w ere posted by Norton, Cayer, Neff, and Tech Tube' s Bob
Wh ite, while top-finish hopefuls Rick
Claxton (rid ing for Factory Connect ion
in th e AA cl a ss ) a nd Lig ht w eig h t A
rid er Jam es Kelly bot h just missed th e
flip a nd picked u p a poin t ther e. The
th ird chec k was th e first rea l tes t, and
everyone dropped a point there, bu t the
big co ntes t wa s to see w ho cou ld ge t
ba ck th e tim e wi th o ut ca r ry in g that
po int over into check fou r. No rto n and
Cayer, a long w ith Darrell Sz lache tka,
were the only three wh o managed to do
it, carding ze roes w h ile ma ny o the rs
dropped one o r m o re. Szla ch etka had
d ropped one .at check tWo, so it looked
like a battle between Norton and Cayer
until the next check - chec k five - when
Cayer stumbled in a few seconds early
an d picked u p two points, while Norton
again zeroed. Bob Wh ite also picked up
a bum there, ending his chances for an
ove rall - unless No rton ma de a mistake.
But tha t neve r happened . Norto n jus t
caug ht the flip into check seven, and he
TI
was the only person to card a zero there.
Cayer, Neff, Kelly, White and Szlachetka each carded a o ne, while Claxton
picked up a two. The next po in ts-taker
w a s che ck ni ne, w h ere No rto n o n ce
again just made it in with a o ne-point
loss, wh ile everyone else d ro pp ed a t
least tw o points. White and Szlachetka
each had trouble in the section, d ro pping five at the check-nine check-out .
Th e las t two sect ions were back to
ba ck , a nd while No rton pi cked up
ano ther point at check 11, he go t it back
and made it int o check 12 before the flip,
for a total of three checks with one point
lost. Cayer came closest with a 1-1 at the
last two checks, while Neff and Claxton
di d a 2-1, a nd White pulled off a 2-0.
N orton took the overall, w hile Cayer
had to settle for second in the AA class,
and Neff picked up High Point A for the
da y.
In B-cla ss ac tio n, Team Cow' s Jo e
Mclaughlin rod e his "Ka w" to a High
Point B trophy, beating out fellow team
member Jim Co pela nd , both finishing
with 33. The C High Point went to Paul
Silansky, who rod e his Kawasaki to a
62-point finish , beating ou t Pete Harkn ess a n d La yne Derby, both with 65
points.
NETRA Greytock Enduro
Lee , Mass8chusetts
Res ults : Sep tember 7, 1997
O/A H-I'T : To m my Norton (KTMl .
H-IT A; Han s Nd f (KTM ).
H-IT B: Joe McL.1ughlin (Ka w ).
H-IT C: P. SiLmsk y (Kaw)'
AA : I. Jason Ca yer (e RE); 2. Rick O o1xto n (Ho n): 3.
Bob White (CRE); 4. Darrel l Szlac hct ka (Kaw): 5. Pau l
Milliken (KTM).
BNT M A: 1. Pt>tl' Tanner (Hon); 2. Ste ve Anto n iou '
(Kaw); 3. D. Fraser (Ka w ); 4. Ron Srevcn s (Ya m); 5. J.
Cooney (KT M) .
BNTM B: 1. M . B" rt>gdrd (KTM); 2. B. Edwards
'ilu
(KolW); 3. J. Pica rd (5111:); 4. C. f1nm\lid..iI (Hus), 5 . K.
Be sette (Ka w ).
s
8NTM G 1. S. Pimenta l (KTM) ; 2. S. Pet rino (Kol W);
3. J. Hclhwell (Ka w); 4. F. Frey (Ka w ); 5. G. Rosenboom
(Ka w).
UW A: I. , . Kelly (HU:l); 2. M. Bingham (Suz ); 3. S.
L'H eu reu x (Hon); -I. P. Piva (Suz); 5. S. Fa5h.'I1 (Suz ).
lJW 8: 1. G. RMOld (Su z); 2. M. Bou\'ier' (Mus) ; 3. A.
Mazur (KTM ); 4. R.
r..·t ...r~on
(CRE); 5. J. Cardoza
(KTM).
UW C: I.
J. Sil va; 2.
S.
Hogi n ~ki
( H o n ); 3 . C.
Orliru.k.i (Hun).
H /W A: 1. M. Za holn " lr.y (KTM); 2. B. Siron..n
( KTM ); 3. M . Nash (KTM).
HJW B; 1. 1- CoprLmd (KTM); 2. R. Brown (KTM); 3.
1- Cote (KT M); 4. M. Stone (Hon); 5. p, Vanryswood
(KTMl.
H/ W C: 1. D. Wcrne rs ba ch (KTM); 2. E. J a rva ~
(K"fM); 3. S. Loring.
V ET A: 1. F. Go ldberg (Hon); 2. K. Robbins (CRE);
3. S. FiSCher (Hon); 4. T. Vt'lb (Hon) ; 5. M. Cyr (Han).
VET B: t. 8. Rod u (Suz); 2. B Sudlt-r (Kaw); 3. 8.
Riorda n (KTM); 4. M. Griff (Yam ); 5. P. Armstrong .
VET C: I . P. Ji..lrlr.~ (KTM); 2. K. ClK'bit"l