Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Minnesota's own Mall Stavlsh took home runner-up honors. (Right) Randy Hawkins matched sc ores with Stavish, but not on the tie breakers . He had to sellie for third. go ing. I went down rea l hard in that section w he n I go t off the tr ail, a n d my shou lder caug ht a tr ee. It jus t pitche d me off the bike. This is my firs t ride back after br eaki ng m y left hand (and mis sing rounds four, five, and six) and I jus t had to back off. There are three rounds left a fter th is one a nd I need to fini sh every one of them." " I really had fun here," Lafferty sa id. " It was a good race, a good cou rse, and I guess a good a ttitu de made the d ifference. When it sta rted to rain Saturday night (before the race), I figured it was goi ng to be a repeat of last year's mu d run. But as it tu rned out , it will probably be one of the best enduros of the series." The 95.8-mile event was hosted by the Norsemen and was held prim arily in the Paul Bu nya n Sta te Forest under a special-use permit iss ued by the Min neso ta Departm ent of N atur al Resou rces . The tra ils used were part of n ewly fo r med Off- Hig hway Ve h icle motorcycle and ATV trail sys tem . "We prim arily use state trails for this even t," sa id even t s p o kesm a n Roger Grill. "Start I finish is located abou t five tra il miles so ut h of the west. en d of the sta te tra il system. Last year, we had a lot of rain the week before the eve nt, and a n all-d ay rain on Sat u rday turned the event into a su rvival run. We're basically u si ng the sa me co u rse, on ly we' ve moved the AI AA sectio n earlier into the s che d u le . Las t yea r w e took a lot o f poi nts in that section and houred ou t a lot of rid ers, so we've widened it ou t a little bit and put it ear lier in the sched ule to make it easier for everybody." The predicted rains d id come , bu t the swiftly mov ing thunderstorm qui ckly pa ssed through th e area and th e rain ceased shortly after midnight. "We held a meeting a nd discu ssed our al terna te schedules," Grill said. "We ha d all but decided to go with the 'C' sc h e d u le when all of a sudden it sto pped rai ning and the stars cam e out. We knew we had eliminated all of the possible bottlenecks and decided that as long as it wasn' t raining anymore, we'd stick with the 'A' schedule." Eig h t-time Na tio na l End uro Series Cham pion Dick Burleson commen ted on the course before the race . "Last yea r. this eve nt was rea l ug ly," said Burl eson. "W it h a ll the rai n, the course took ~ lot of po int s. It was definit e ly a s urvival-o f- the-fi tt est -t ype eve nt. At the lime, I thou ght ma ybe the club had gone a little too far, especially with the las t AA section . But I' m back this yea r, because, wh en yo u think about i t, th at' s what th e s po rt is all abo u t. But my only goal this year is to fini sh with a better attitud e." Bu rleson's attitude did pay off. you " Ma n, co u ldn't he lp but have a big gri n on vour face," he sa id a fte r t h e ra ce . "They (the Norsemen ) d id an excelle n t job with this even t. The way it s to rmed Saturday night, I would have never th ou ght I' d finish smiling . Last year th ey w orked u s a ll d a y lo n g until vou a lm os t houred out during that fin al AA section. This year they moved that section ea rlier u p in the sc he du le a n d it was li ke a tot a lly d ifferent race. I still d ropped plent y of poi nts (in the AA section) but we s till had 25 miles of trail left, and that made the di fference. "The last five miles was a real treat," h e a d ded . "So m e b ody h a d bru shhogged out a fou r-foo t-wide ATV tra il that brought us back from the state trails to the finish. The y checked you into that section wit h plen ty of time, and all you co u ld d o was just floor it. The end u ro end ed in a clea ring with a ha lf-mile-long grass track. Every body was late by then, an d all you cou ld d o was twist the th ro ttle. It was a blast." Fin is hi n g fourth o vera ll was 1997 (Min neso ta) District 23 Enduro Cham pion Craig Holasek. " Righ t fro m the s ta rt, I ha d fun ," Holasek sa id . "I mean , you knew w ith the rain it was goin g to be muddy, bu t with a ll th e trails, yo u al so k n ew it was n' t go ing to be bo ring. With my job , the only time I ge t on a bik e is on race day, so I' m not in as good condition as I sho u ld be. So I ha ve to save a littl e a ll day so I can finish stro ng . Last year the heal an d mud go t to me and I had to call it qu its ea rly. This year I kn ew I had a goo d d a y goi n g wh en St avi sh o n ly caught me once.He started tw o minutes beh ind me, and that the best motivator there is." In a four-way tie for fifth pla ce with 53s were KTM riders Jon-Erik Burl eson , Pat Ga rraha n, Da v id Lipovsky, and Yama ha-mounted Todd Mathwi g . Their tie-breaker scores put the m in fif th , sixth, seve n th and eighth p lace, respective ly. "Actu ally, it was probably the most en jo ya b le enduro I've ever r id d e n ," said Jon-Erik Burl eson , the 24-year-old so n of Dick Bu rleson . "The trails here are real we ll-mainta ined an d the clu b kept things tigh t. With the rain, it sta rted out a little slick , but the trail s never go t s lo p p y . They kep t it ho nes t a nd k ept u s g o i ng . You were b a s ica ll y beh ind sched u le' 90 percent of the time. To me, a good end u ro is d etermined by (Left) Eight-time Nationa l Enduro Champion Dick Burleson competed and rounded out the top 10 overa ll. (Below) Pat Garrahan took sixth. how little you have to u se yo u r timekeeping equipment." Finishi ng oul the top 10 were ew Jersey' s Jeff Kirchner and Dick Burleson, who both posted 58s. The tie breaker we nt in Kirchner' s favor. 1:\ Pau l Bunyan Enduro Akeley, Minnesota Results: June 28, 1998 (Round 7 of 10) OIA: 1. Mike Lafferty (KTM) ; 2. Mdt Stavish (Ho n): 3. Ran d y Ha wk ins (Ya m); 4. Cr a ig Hol asek : 5. jon -Erik Bu rle son (KTM ); 6 . Pat Ga r ra h a n (KT M) ; 7 . David Li p o vsky (KTM ); 8 . To dd Ma th wi g (Ya m ); 9. Jeff Kirchner; 10. Dick Burleson (H bg) . A MA /ACER B!S N ATIONAL CHA M PIO NS H IP ENDURO SE RIES PO INT STANDI NGS (A ft. r 1 o f 10 rou n d s) : 1. Mik e l a ffer t y (186 / " wi ns ): 2. Rand y H a w kins (102 / 1); 3. Do ug Blackwell (9611 : 4 . Pdt 'Ga rra ha n (92); 5. Matt Stavish (73); 6. Jaso n Dah ncrs (70);'7. Ty Davis (51/ 1; 8. Robbie knk. . (40); 9. Ru.. .. . ..sell Pearso n (35); 10. Jason R aines (3-U. • Upcoming Rounds: Round 8· W~ Greenwich, New Jersey, July 12 Round 9 - Divide, Colorado, August 9 -~ .. .. r:." ~ ~ 25

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