Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OFF-ROAD 22nd annual Moose Run By Mark Kariya FENTON, fL, MAY 3 eam Suzuki Off-Road's Paul ~ Edmondson demonstrated skill and smarts, and (perhaps more importantly) proved that he has recovered from injuries, by winning the 22nd annual Moose Run, a race he declared is certainly worthy of its title - "America's Toughest Race." The former 250cc Enduro World Champion from Great Britain knows difficult races, having competed in events such as the Gilles Lalay Classic in France. Of the Moose Run, he said, "In America, it's definitely the hardest race I've done since I've been here." Even locals who come back year after year and know how hard it can be thought this year's event might have be.en the most challenging yet. Perennial winner Jeff Fredette has been racing it since it was the Illinois Cross Coun try Championship, and the Team Green racer, laughing, said, "Yeah, it's the toughest one so far. We're done (with the interview)." t (Above) Despite crashing at the start, Paul Edmondson paced himself and came away with the Moose Run win and $1000. (Below) Fred Andrews ended up second after getting stuck In a mudhole and later getting tangled up in barbed wire. Lots of competitors'c0nsidered themselves "done" long before Fredette, who finished fifth this time. According to Moose Racing's Gary Gibbs, only 13 of the 184 starters finished all three 29-mile laps. Got the picture? . Though the area appears to be fairly flat and full of cornfields, it's actually rather undulating, though there's certainly nothing that could be tert:ned mountainous. And in between the farmers' fields is what promoter Bill Gusse of the United Off-Road Racing Association calls the "timbers," ~here some of the most physically demanding riding in the country is found. It's tight, but instead of the tightly spaced trees which grow to the sky, it seems tha t half the trees are horizontal, lying on the ground with most trails forcing the rider to cross them, often at unconventional angles. As Gusse points out, all of it is ridable, but when all you're doing is crossing over - and undernea th - logs, launching out of creeks with no run or fighting through gloppy mudholes for five hours, it wears you down. Team Green GNCC racer Fred Andrews showed up for his first Moose Run - and his share of the $2500 purse and said, "1 talked to Brian Keegan. Last year he rode, and he told me, 'You've got to shoot your bike over the logs. You've got to drag it: this and that. It's like everybody builds it up to be bigger than what it is - but still, it's gnarly. I wouldn't want to be a B or C guy out here,.no way. Those guys that made it are heroes. If they make a lap, they did good, for sure. It's gnarly; no doubt about it, it's gnarly. It's way gnarlier than Blackwater was when I won it." Andrews took the lead going into the last lap and ended up second, a laudable debut. "It's really technical," Honda's Scott Summers explained. "We go over, like, 200 log crossings in one lap. A lot of that stuff's almost like trials. It's very different from a GNCC course, but that makes it run. It's a real test of your technical skills." Instead of his usual XR600R, Summers chose the much lighter XR250 with a 280cc big-bore kit. He led much of the race until he chose a few bad lines and got stuck. He soldiered on for third. KTM's Jon-Erik Burleson said, "The thing I noticed most, for being in illinois, is we really didn't cross many cornfields at all. We only had, I'd say, probably three, four miles of cornfields out of a 30-mile loop. One section with the mudhole in it there, it seemed like it . went forever. It was probably seven or eight miles of tight, tight first-, secondgear stuff the whole way..I'd say put it all together, and it's by far the toughest one I've done here. I've done three or four of 'em - this was definitely the toughest." The race did start in a cornfield, under a cool, gray sky following a week with a fair amount of rain. It also rained late Saturday afternoon and evening, ensuring a dust-free event. In addition to Andrews, Edmondson, Fredette and Summers, quite a few woods-racer heroes lined up in the Pro class, including Edmondson's teammates Steve Hatch and Rodney Smith, Mid-South series champion Mike Sampson, KTM's Brian Garrahan, Team Green's Jim Jarrett, the legendary Dick Burleson and Ron Ribolzi. Hard-charging locals included Phil Converse, Larry Sullivan and Tim Taber, eager to show the National heroes how it's done in Illinois. When the racers kicked their bikes to life, however, the National regulars went to the front. "I got the start; then I let everybody go," Andrews said. He knew it'd be a long race, so Sampson quickly assumed front-running duties on his 1M. Before too'long, how

• Cover