Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

NETRA Enduro Series, Round 1 R.H.' P DIAl' 'HDIAI ;I"H lHa By Paul ClipperfTrail Rider magaz ine Photos by Jay Chittenden/Fast Line Photos WEST STAFFORD, cr. FEB. 8 ew England native Kevin Hi nes jumped out in front of the competition a t th e annual NETRA Snow Run Enduro, hardly mi ss in g a beat on th e wav to the overall win . Hines was competing on his new Yamaha YZ400F and h e and the b ig fourst roke bo omed to a fi ve -point score, . fully four po ints better than his closest compe titio n. Hu sky rid er "Crazy" Sam Fischer did an ad mi rable job of keeping Hin es honest but still couldn't get closer than a point fro m him in the toughest sectio ns . Fischer fi nis he d w it h n in e points to his cre d it, and A Light-class rider Jam es Kelly finished third overall, tying Fischer' s score. Conditions for this year's Snow Run seem ed tentative at fir st , wi th a fair a mou n t of bare g rou nd sho w ing and temperatures during th e precedin g week hovering we ll ab ove freezing. In N ew En g land , thi s kind o f-wea the r forces the qu estion, "Car studs or spike tires ?" The field was sp lit almos t 50/50 when it came ' to tir e choice. However, once the mercury di pped low on Saturday nigh t, and once we go t back into the woods a bit, plenty of thick, white ice on the trails made the spike ride rs happy, while the car-stud people were bas ically hating life. Warmer temperatures a fter noon o n Sunday made the sunnie st s p ots in th e woods a little slimy but, with a key tim e finish of roughly 1:15 p.m ., mud was not much of a problem for an yon e. . Th e temp erature wa s just below freezing when the first line went off at 9:01, wi th about 125 rid ers brav ing the icy w ood s. Th e rid e s ta rte d with just eno ugh road to warm your bike up, and then it was int o th e woods right aw ay for a spirited and very short section that managed to catch most everyone napping and a point late. Roughl y a d ozen peop le zeroed that first check, with top rid ers Hines and Rick Claxton comi ng throug h clea n. The first real section followed, with all the A rid er s dropping two or more p oints, a nd sig nif ica ntly more points lost in the B and C classes. The surprise for most ride rs came a t the third check, where, exp ectin g a chec kou t, most w eren 't p repa red for more tight trails back to back. But that's what it wa s. And it gave Hin es the op portun ity to s how off what mad e him a p ast AMA Nati on al Champion. Hines was th e only rider to ze ro the third che ck, comin g in 58 seconds int o his minute and just making the flip. Fischer, who had dropped a point at the first check and tw o at th e second , cam e closest in the AA ranks, card ing a 1:50. Kelly, in the A Light class, blazed in with a 1:15. Following this first points-taking section was a series of fou r checks, easily .N A ta ~ zeroed by the best and cost ing a point or two here and there by the rest of the A' s and B's. Hines kep t his score card clean throug hou t and stayed on his toes well enough to clock into the check-in to the next sectio n wit h a zero. The only other ri der to zero t his chec k w as Larry Pugrab, a vetera n A Lig ht rid er , '."ho was d efinitely on the gas commg int o the section . (Above) Kevin Hines won th e ope nl!'g round of th e 1998 NETRA Enduro Series In Connecticut . (Left) James Kell y to ok High Point A ho nors. NETRA Sno w Run End uro West Sta fford, Connecti cut Results: February 8, 1998 What followed w as a lon g sec tio n between checks eight and nine, almos t 10 mile s of fas t ice trails stu dded here and there with bare grou nd an d rocks. Th e foo ting w as tricky, bu t not tr ick y en ough to sl ow Hines d o wn, a nd he checked ou t at nine wit h a 3:35. As fast as that was, it wa sn 't the fas test time through the section . Hines' mai n E-Line employee, Raffi Peterson, who collected eno ugh High Point B awards last yea r to mov e into the A class, beat his boss by a full 10 seconds, carding a 3:25 ove r the longest section of the course. Had Peterson started ou t faster in the morning, he cou ld have caused Hines real trou ble; as it was, he finished second A Light with a 12. Kelly, also in A Light, came close to the two with a 3:40, while everyone else dropped four or more. Three tim ekeepin g chec ks finis hed up th e d ay, with H in es checki ng o u t with a total of five. Second-best scores were the nines card ed by Sam Fischer and James Kelly, with Kelly taking the High Point A awa rd. Kevin Howley was th e lon e rider to fini sh up w it h a 10poin t ca rd, w hich bought him fou rth overa ll a nd second in the AA class. A handful of ll s followed, posted by Jason Cayer (who finished third AA), Claxton (fourth AA) , and Matt Bingham (w ho won the A Light class). . The poin ts went up from there, with KTM rid er Pete Tan ner wi nning the A Bantam class with a 12, Honda-mounted Rich Seymo ur taking hom e the A FourStro ke- class wi n with 13 po ints, a nd David Carlson taking top honors in the A Heavy class wi th a 14-po int card . Fiftee n poi nts took the A Vetera n an d A Senio r classes, with Fred Goldberg and Roger Rod rigu e takin g the wins, respectively. KTM rid er John Cardozo wo n the High Point B award with a 17. He was followed up by Pat Gui ney, a lso on a KTM, who is new to the B Senior class this yea r. Guin e y s te p ped up the a lready-in tense co m pe tition in th e B Senio r class by finis hing second ove rall B and class winner with a 19-point loss. And lest you think that competitiveness stops following the B class, look at the resu lts in the Super Senio r d ivision for an eye-o pener, where Gord on Razee and Tom Farley continued their annual battle. Razee wo n the clas s with a 20poin t card , beating all but two of the Bclass r id ers , a n d Farl ey wa s not far behind w ith a 22. Th e Wom en' sclass sho we d the sa me intensity, with 1996 class champio n Kare n Whittie r d oing battl e w ith Dawn Silvia, w ho las t year contested the hare scrambles series and now pl ans to pursu e e n d u r os fo r a chan ge. Whitti er proved sh e s till has that cham p io nsh ip charge by winning th e class with a 57, with Silvia scori ng a 62 [X for second. O /A CHAMP: Kevi n H ines (Ya m ). HIP A: [ames Kelly IHus). HIP 8: John Cardozo (KT M ). HIP C: Tom Ca ncs i. AA: 1. Sam Fisher (B us); 2. Kev in Ho wley (KTM); erry 3. Ja son Cay er (KTM); 4. Rick Cl axton (H e n ): 5 . J Mad or e (Yam ). A H/W: 1. David Ca r lso n (Hen): 2. Jim Mi tch ell IHon), 3. Pa ul Piva ; 4. Bill Sironcn (Kn.U. A F/S : 1. Rich Seymour If-io n). A UW : 1. Matt Bing ha m (Su z); 2. Raffi Peterson y (CRE); 3. Larry Pu g ra b (KTM); 4. Jim Coo ne (Suz) ; 5. Loui s Co lom (Suz) . A BN TM : 1. Pet e Tann er (KT M); 2. Mike Haa s (Han ); 3.• eil Denne-tt (KTh1.); 4. Brian Barn es (Ya m); 5. Dan Cowan (Ka w ). A VET : 1. Fred Go ldberg (Han); 2. Ce off Wu rlit7.er (H a n); 3. Stew Peloquin (K.lw); 4. Dave Kelly (KTM); 5. Mark MAhan (KTM). A SR: 1. Roger Rodrigu e ( KTM ); 2. Fred Burnham (KThU; 3. Da v e Ell ingwood (KTM); 4. Bill Johnson (H on); 5 . Jim Stoddard (l-.'TM). 8 UW: 1. Anthon y Reo ( KTM) ; 2. Bob Stadler (Kaw); 3. Eric o.<:; ,ay IKa w); 4. AI Ross (J-. 'TM); 5. Pete Grave-He (CR£). B BNTM: 1. Milo.e Peri stere (Yam); 2. Dav e Harris (KT M) ; 3. Mark Bouvier (KT M) ; 4. JOt." Mcl.a ughlin (Kaw ); 5. Mark Beaurega rd (KT M) . . B HIW: 1. Stew Shep pa rd ; 2. Mike Stone (Hon ); 3. james Co pe la nd (KlM); 4. Pete Vanryswood (J(T~O; 5. Dan Hayes ( KTM). 8 VET: 1. Bob Ed w a r ds (Ka w): 2. Bru ce Rocha (Suz); 3. Dave Du g as (Ka w), 4. Chri.. Tooker (Yam); S. Jim Silva ( KTM). B 4· S T R K: 1. Lay ne Dut lin g er (Kaw ): 2. Ken Semerjia n (Hu s): 3. Aus tin Jalbert; 4. Tom Sm ith (Hen). B SR: 1. Pat Gu iney (KTM); 2. Ken Davi s (Ho n); 3. Paul Clipper (KTM ); 4. Bob Foster (H en ): 5. Bob Kama y (Kaw). SISR : 1. Go rdon Razee (Han); 2. To m Fa rley (eRE); 3. Keith Goode ll (e RE); 4. T()~ Ebersole (CR E); 5. Tom Sim eon (Ka w ). WM N: 1. Karen Whitt lt'r (Kaw): 2. Dawn Si lvi a (Ka w); 3. P,lUla Stewart (KTM). C H /W : 1. Do u g S imo ne ( KT M); 2. Er ik Larva s (KTM) ; 3. Pete Da browski (KTM) . C BNT M: 1. Tt.'CI Bowyer (K.lw); 2. Rich Des kosiers (KTM ); 3. Heidi Landon (Ka w ): 4. Fra nk Frey (K.1w ). C VET : 1. Ed Mt erzej e w skt ( H us ): 2. Jame s Simmon s (KTM); 3. Robert Stuart (Yam) . C 4·S TRK: 1. Layne Derby (Han); 2. Dave Oram; 3. Jim Gn.ocn (Ka w ). C LIW: I. Kyl e Losek (Suz); 2. Larry Rolla (K.1w). C SR: 1. Do ug Mo rr ison (KTM); 2. Clades Kennedy (Suz) ; 3. Francis Kaess (H us); 4, J Flucki ger (H on); 5. eff Frank Bauet'(KTM).

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