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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127943
OFF-ROAD
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ever, Summers put his "little" XR into
the lead, followed by Hatch.
Edmondson didn't get the sort of
start he planned.
"I kind of got taken out on the start
accidentally - 1 got hooked up on someone's Bark Buster - and 1 was basically
dead last away, so 1 just picked my way
through traffic on the first lap,"
Edmondson reported. "Tl}.e problem
with this race is that a lot of the lines are
closed and ow-line, and there are lots of
trees and logs, so 1 kind of had to wait in
line to have a go, to have a run at the
stuff. That's why on the first lap 1 was
quite a ways behind Hatch."
"He (Edmondson) crashed, so 1 waited for him," Andrews explained of his
bad start, "and we got together and just
kind of trail-rode."
Smith, racing an RMI25 for practice
since he may ride one in the ISDE, made
it about 20 miles before hurting his knee
in a crash. Rather than risk further
injury and jeopardizing his chances at
the following week's GNCC (where he's
tied for first in points with Andrews),
Smith called it a day.
, Summers continued to put time out in
front and seemed to be enjoying himself,
despite a bike that sounded a bit rough.
"We jetted it rich intentionally, thinking that it was going to be a little
warmer and' that 1 was going to be holding it wide open all day," Summers
explained. "I think we just miscalculated a Ii tt1e bit."
Hatch held a lonely second place as
they started the second lap. By this time,
Edmondson had caught up to A!,drews,
who held third, with Fredette right
behind them. About three minutes
. behind Summers, it appeared they were
almost trail-riding.
"When we left the pits after the first
lap, they got out of Sight," Fredette said.
"Once they were out of sight, 1 started
trying to ride hard, but every 'time you
start riding hard, you ride dumb. 1 got
stuck quite a few times. 1 don't know; 1
just couldn't do logs today or something.
Every log I'd go over, I'd be on my head
on the other side, picking everything up.
It was one of those days when 1 couldn't
do much right. It was so nasty."
Though Hatch closed the gap to
about 10 seconds at around the SO-mile
mark, he joined Smithon the sidelines,
the victim of a mechanical glitch in his
RM250. Tha t left Summers on his oftsputtering XR with about a minute over
the trail-riding duo of Andrews and
Edmondson.
"It took us to the front, and we just
had a good time," Andrews said. "One
of us would fall, and the other one
would wait or we'd come to a creek, and
we'd both look. One of us would jump it
and take off, and the other guy would
follow, so we just play.ed all day and
had a good time."
"Once 1 caught up to Fred Andrews,"
Edmondson said, "me and Freddie just
rode our own race. We were just trying
to ride smart. 1 was just trying to get
into a good position to where 1could see
the leaders, but that didn't happen until
the second lap. I'd never done that race;
1 didn't know how long a lap was. 1
didu't know how long 1 had to keep that
pace up for or what. But 1figured in that
type of race 1 was best off riding my
own race, and that's wllat 1did, save for
the last lap, when 1 tried to knock it up a
bit. Conc4tions deteriorated a lot by the
last lap; they were real bad."
Summers finally surrendered the
lead by the last lap.
,
"The first lap 1 was doing really
good," Summers recounted, "getting
over all the stumps and logs and stuff.
The second lap was pretty good. Then 1
just took a really bad line and just
buried the bike down to the handlebar. 1
spent so much energy just literally lifting the whole motorcycle up out of
there. Those guys caught up and passed
me. 1 ended up taking another had line
the next lap and dropped a whole bunch
of time. 1 wish 1 would've not made
such st!-1pid mistakes, because 1 had
such a ball riding that motorcycle. 1
think 1had a shot at winning that race."
Andrews headed out with the lead
on the last lap, followed closely by
Edmondson, with Summers a distant
third and Fredette even further back. In
fifth and making up time was YZ250mounted Taber. This would be ,the
"sprint" to the finish.
"We said when it came down to the
last lap and we got close to the finish or
whatever, we'd tum it up," Andrews said.
"We were riding together for most of
the last lap," Edmondson said. "Then
Freddie crashed in the mudhole. That
was his race. All his grips were covered
inmud.
1I
That sealed the victory - worth $1000
cash - for Edmondson, who finally
crossed the finish line in four hours and
42 seconds. Andrews· faced one more
hurdle after extricating himself, however, when he had to stop to remove
bar,bed wire that had become wrapped
in his KX2SO.
"i just thought, 'There's no way I'm
going to get second:" he said. "1 was
waiting for everybody else to come
around." ..
In fact, he had a comfortable cushion
over Summers, and the GNCC points
co-leader, Andrews, stopped the clock
at 4:47 for second place - worth $400.
The only thumper in the top 10 came in
10 minutes later, with Summers taking
home $300.
Taber managed to get by Fredette on
the last lap for the $200 fourth-place
On ." XR250R,
SCott Summers
led for IlNrIy
two-thirds of the
race until he
misjudged
which way to go
In a mudhole.
Ha stili placed
third.
payout and beat Fredette for "first local"
honors in 5:04 to Fredette's 5:08.
"I had a pretty bad start, but I've ridden this race a lot of times," Taber said.
"I just kind of hung back. I've watched
Jeff (Fredette) ride it many times, and
that's how he always does it. I'm kind of
learning from him. I finally beat him.
Ten miles from the end or so, 1 said I'd
never do it again. But it was a good
time; I had fun."
Indeed, most riders admitted that the
Moose Run did live up to its billing as
"America's Toughest Race." They
enjoyed it, though Fredette probably said
it best: "It was fun, in a warped way." l.~
Burleson (KTM); 8. Mike Sampson (TM); 9. Lonnie Ross
(Yam); 10. Larry Burquist (Yam).
A: 1. Tom Farris (Kaw); 2. Jeff Coss (Suz); 3. Ron
. Ribolzi (Yam); 4. Jesse Klimek (Yam); 5. Rich Bryan
(Hbg),
-VET 35+, 1. Robert Kirchner (Suz); 2. Ron Whipple
(Kaw); 3, Dale Smith (Hon); 4. Greg Birkland (K1M); 5.
Ben Stohl (Hon).
so, 1, Ryan Lenth (K1M); 2. Matthew o;.,,.n (K1M);
3. Matthew Iburg (Yam); 4. Ben Bradfurd (KTM); 5.
Aaron Lenth (KTM).
60: 1. Tommy Fortune (Kaw); 2. Eddie Sims (}(aw);
3. Jason Minnaert (Kaw); 4. Adam Bonneur (Kaw); 5
Jeremy Jorgenson (Kaw).
80: 1. j.R. Fortune (Hon); 2. Brett Deutsch (Suz); 3,
Allen Wright (Hon); 4. Eddie Sims (Hon); 5. Jason
Minnaert (Kaw).
.
()..16: 1. Charlie Deutscher (Kaw); 2. Andy Summitt
(Hon); 3. Brad Bush (Suz); 4. Adam McKillip (Hon); 5.
Aaron Stach.
VINT PRE·'82: 1. Randy Conkling (C-A); 2. Steve
Page (C-A); 3. Phil Converse (Yam); 4. Rich Dubrava
(Hon); 5. San Wanckett (Hon).
VINT '82-'87, 1. Jelf Fredette O