Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

NETRA Enduro Series, Round 10 however, Nor ton stopped paying attention before chec k eight and walked in before the flip, scoring two bum po ints . Hines lost co nce n tra ti o n before check seven and went in a few seconds la te, picking up an extra poin t the r e, while Cayer came clean through both, moving into the fron t-runner's position. On the way to check nine, things evened ou t again. Nine was an emer- By Paul Clipper. Trail Rider Magazine Photos by JayChittenden, FastUne Photos cr.NOV. 2 acto ry Co nn ectio n-ba cked Rick Cla xto n o nce aga in pro ved th a t consistency can pay off - especi ally in end u res - by w in ni ng th e NE T RA Black and Blue End u ro. Claxton spent the day at his usu al fast pace, mad e no mistakes that he could n't overcome, and reign ed supreme over a tough field that took its share of knocks . "Knocking" is what it's all abou t a t the Black and Blue Enduro because the terrai n in cen tral nort hern Co nnecti cut is rocky and unfo rgiving, and, at this time of year, all th e leaves are newly dow n, maki ng it im possibl e to see rocks. roots, mos t of the mud hole; - and so me times the tra il itself. The earlv riders so metimes see m to use Braille to follow the arr ows, and plen ty of d rizzl ing rain o n the day of the eve nt certainly didn't help the fu n factor. This year, the NETRA cham pionship would not depend on who did w ha t at the Black and Blue. Last year's champ, jason Ca yer o f Ra zee ' s Cycles, ha d alread y wrapped up the series at a previous event, bu t was still o n hand to collect perha ps one more trophy. Also on hand wa s loca l New Engla nd er Kevin Hines, getti ng in one more rid e before the winter shu ts d own the enduro se ries. Las t ye ar's N ETRA hare scrambles cham p, Sf AFFORD, 'J r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... \!5 N ... OJ .D E OJ ;;> o z 22 gency check easily made by the top riders, thou gh Cayer fell asleep a n d w en t i n Rick Claxton fought the rocks. mud and rain en past the flip, scoring a route to fi nis hing first overall at the NETRA 1:18 , wh il e Hin es Black and Blue Enduro. docked an oth er zero (Above right) Jason Cayer rode well and 0:31, to be exact - and finished one point behind Claxton, 23-22. which the two w ere o nce earned him second overall. agai n tied for points. No r to n had th e bad Tommy Norton, was also in attenda nce, luck to tag a rock wi th his foot, spraining as was the new hare scra mbles cha m p, it - he found it impossible to rid e, so he josh McLevy. was out for the da y. Claxton also scored There wa s plenty of talen t lined u p a zero a t chec k nine, as did Whit e and for the sta rt in mer cifu l bu t sho rt-lived Mcl.ev y, and a number of the better Ad ryness, w ith a total of only 130 rid ers class rid er s, but Hin es an d Ca yer sti ll bra ving cond itions for the day. had them all by a poin t, at least. As usual, Hines jum ped out in front , jush Mcl.evy go t a chance to show off show i ng off his a m p le ex per ie nce at his hare scrambles skill at check 10, cardenduros by entering the best score at the ing a blisteri ng two p oin ts - half the first points-ta k ing chec k, check two . poi nts taken by Hines an d Cayer. Th is Hines dropped a 0:39, whil e Cayer and moved Cayer up, but wit h h is burn Nort on came closest wit h a 0:57 and 0:55, poi nts from earl ier, it d id n' t bring him respectively. Everyone else lost a point much closer to the fro n t. H ines and or more at tha t check, an d the pack rumCayer both scored fours, as d id Bantam bl ed off to th e next two tight chec ks . A rider Hans Neff. Most zeroed check th ree, and then check Check 11 was a known-control check fou r too k a point from Hines, Norto n, intu the last loo p, a brutal pound ing in a Cayer, Claxton, and Tec h Tu be's Bob section of rocky fores t outside of Unio n, White, wh o scored a previous NETRA Connecticut. Sho rt ly after the chec k-in , ove rall win and is always in contention Hines, who had deci ded to wick it up, for top poi nts. leaped a d itch successfully bu t tagged a Chec k five was the first chec k-in to a large, hid de n rock w it h h is e n gi ne . serious poi nts-taking section, where the Clutch pi eces blew all ove r the scenery top riders los t their firs t real points for and forced his retirement for the day. the day. In this section, o rton showed Whi te, Cayer, McLevy and Neff a ll hi s old hare sc rambles s tyle, a nd he scored five p oints at the check -ou t u nplugged a field's-best three-point loss (chec k 12), but in tha t sec tio n Claxto n a t the chec k-o u t, check six. Hin es a nd also seemed to come alive. He cloc ked Cay er we re righ t there, but they missed ou t with only a four-po int loss, and carthe flip, scoring a fuur at the check-out. ried his momentum into the 13th check, Tha t put Norton in th e lead by a full w hich fell back-to-h ack with check 12. point, bu t it wa s a risky place to be wi th Cl a xto n scored a si ngle point at th e two more zero checks com ing up. check -out, while all o ther riders in conBoth checks seve n and eigh t were tenti on scored two. ea sily m ade by m ost of the A riders; T his tied Claxton up with Cayer, a lt ho ug h Cayer ha d no kn owl ed ge of this. Claxton knew he had a good score going and held on thro u g h the 14t h check-in. He then flew to the check 15 check-out with a five - fu lly one puin t better than anyone else, including Cayer. When all the card s we re in, Claxton had the win ov era ll, with 22 points lost to Cayer's 23. Third overall was Neff, who picked up the High Point A trophy with hi s 25-point sco re. W h ite was fou rth overall and second in the AA class, and jos h McLevy filled out the top five, with third AA. Scoring the High Point B award once again wa s Raffi Peterson of the CRE team, now impatient to be moved up to the A class , where he can do some real damage. Raffi scored a 38; the next-best B-class sco re wa s turned in by Ryan Brown, who topped th e B Heavy class with a 49. The C High Point was taken by G. Diedrich, who topped the dass on a shortened C course with 53 points lost, just nipping Fou r-Stroke Crider j. Grant w ith a 54. Th e lovely, yet fo rm ida ble, Heidi Landon finis hed up her enduro season in the Women's class wi th another win, scoring 76 poin ts to check 10. t~ NETRA Black and Blue Enduro Stafford, Connectic ut Results: November 2, 1997 O/A: Rick C la xto n (eRE) . 'H-PT A: Ha ns Ndf (KTM). aerson (CRE). H-PT B: ItJffi Pu H-PT C: G. Dtednch (K.l w) . AA : 1. J. Cayer (CR E); 2. B. Wh ite (C RE); 3. J. M dA.·vy (He n): 4. K. Hines (CRE); 5. T. Norto n (KTM). RNTM A: 1. S. An to n io u IKew): 2. J. Cooney (KTM); 3. N . o..·nJwtt (k'TM); 4. K. How le y (lCT M). RNTM 8 : 1. J. Picard (5uz); 2. J. Mclaughlin ); 2. 8. Roch ..; 3. P. IJdTl-"l"2.u ~lL); 4_K. Corbeil ; 5. j. Silva lk'TM). VET C: 1. L Snyder (K.l w); 2. C. Singt"!' (KTM); 1 D. Camrron (K'TM); 4. j.SimrT1lH'it (ICJ'M); 5. P.lYin....n:o-tus>. · S R A:. 1. D. Broatch (KTM ); 2. R. Rodri gu f'; 3. n John."IOn (Hon); -t. J. Stoddard (KThf). SR B: 1. r. Ana nia (Hon) ; 2. D. Jo:

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