Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ollowed with a quick check-in and, nee again, about 10 miles of trail to a heck-out. Lafferty blazed in wit h a our-point loss, this tim e beating every ne . Smith posted a five, as did Hoess, andy Ha wkins, Kevin Hines, Pat Garahan, ETRA rid ers Bob White and erry M ad ore , and ECEA rid er Bill tkins on . W i th tw o po ints- ta k ing hecks ou t of th e w ay, La fferty had a we-point lead , a nd it was starti ng to urn in to a fight for second place. A 12-mph sect ion an d free territory o the first gas ate up a little mileage. An 8-m ph sec tion after the gas stop - st artng as a tim ek eeping sectio n and then 'elting aw fu lly fast in a sho rt but trickv udhole - gave some rid ers fits. It w a"s ust a sam ple of what w as to co m e, as he riders came ou t th e other side with o check - just a reset and free territory own the road to the real points-tak ing erntory . Th e new Farm Section of the end u ro vas bla ck mud , b ig ro cks , and a new, o ng trail section that w as technical and iring . Thi s wa s one sec tio n in which fferty seemed to play it sa fe - without o sin g a ny points , but a lso with out ulling away an y further . Back-to-back hecks in the secti on took four points at he first check and l Oa t the seco nd, and afferty had pl enty of com pa ny. Mark pence, th e fo r me r ECEA Enduro liampion w ho rides for Shenand oah onda, also went 4-10, as did Hines and a wki ns . With th e worst p art of th e co u rse behind them, it wa s Laffert y eading with 23 points to his credit, folowed by Razee' s Cycles' Hines, who la d 25 p o in ts on h is card . Hawkins, oess, Sm ith and Spence followed, all ith 26 points. H in e s ' w a s all set to make a la te h arge on Lafferty , as th e co u rse led : ro m the Farmon to the Ledges sec tio n, hen a sma ll error al mo st turned into a ajor disast er for the ve teran rider. On fas t section of trail, Hines clipped a tr ee, knocking tile Bar k Buster righ t off is Yamah a YZ400, and kn o ck ing him nconscious for a good three mi nu tes . " I rem ember g o i ng t h rou g h the heck -in ," Hines sa id afte rward, "and th en the next th ing I remember is Rand y Ha w kins kneeling ove r me, telling me to w akeup." H aw kin s got moving as so on as he sa w tha t Hineswas okay, but it took a lit tle mo re time for Kevin to get go ing . " I haven't knocked myself ou t since 1984," he said, "s o I wa s worried th at my rea ction ti m e w a s goi ng to be screwed up or something ." Th ey checked out of that sec tio n wi th Lafferty los in g tw o po ints a nd se tting the fast est sco re again. Th e rest of the top runners unanim ously d ro pped three points at the chec k-o u t, save for H ines, who carded a seven. Most of us w ould have called it a day at that cheek , bu t H ines got right back in to th e chase. Th e next short secti on took two more poi nts from Lafferty, and H ines matched it as if nothing had ha ppened in the pri or sec tio n. Also po sting twos were Hoess, Mad ore and Hawkins, bu t with on ly one sec tion left, the final results w ere looking fairly obvious, barring a major error by Lafferty . The fina l section w as a collection of di rt roads and two-tra ck, easily lead ing u p to one qu ick la p arou nd the clu b's h are scra m b les course, a roo ty , fa s t, open and w hooped section. Rat her than pl aying it sa fe, Lafferty un corked it one m ore tim e, blasting through the.24-mph sect ion and zeroing tile chec k-o ut, a feat unmatched by an yon e e lse . H oe s s , Smith, Spence, Madore a nd Garrahan held on to just miss th e flip , dropping on e point eac h . Hawkins sa w an y cha nce he had go away when he cooked his rear brake in the section, forcing him to slow w a y d own and take a three going out the other side, while H in es rode safel y and dropped two, alon g with Atkinson, White and Matt Stavish. While the AA and regional A rid ers sorted each o ther out, the re st of the pack filtered in . Possibly, the B riders had the toug hest day, having to tra vel the w ho le cou rse and piling up load of poi.nts along . the wa y. The top finishing B rider, pu tti ng in an amazing ride that too k him to 25t1l overall , was Bruce Sta rrer of Bedford, New Ha mpshi re. H e railed the cou rse wi th a low score of 60, and he . too k home the H ig h Point B trophy to show all his frie nds. The Criders rode a sho rtened course and we re routed aro un d th e second half of the Farm sec tion (o therwi se they 'd' all st ill be there), and the top finis hing C sco re was a 73-point card, held by Do ug Simone of Wes tfield , Massachu sett s. Pat Ga rrahan, a KTM 200 rider u suallv more com fortable with N at ional H are Scrambl es ev ents a nd ISDE rides, took the H igh Poin t A with a 38. Firs t o ve ra ll falls w ithi n the cri teria of fiftee nth or be tter, 50 w ith that Mike Lafferty wrappe d u p his second AMA Na tio nal End u ro Cha mpionship , complet e wi th a little celebration back at the pi ts. " It would have mad e me even more nervous to sit back and try to ride safe, so I just went fo r it ," Lafferty said. " I can 't believe it's over tha t fast. It wa s a real easy season this yea r, and lowe. a load of thanks to my ma nager and main m echan ic and mentor, Alan Rand t from Lansi ng Cycle. The re 's no way I co uld have d one it w it ho ut him . A~d all m v s ponso rs - KTM , Trel leborg , M oose , Arai, all of them - I'd jus t like to thank them for all the grea t su ppo rt." I~ a Rhody National West Greenwich, Rhode Island Results: July 12, 1998 (Round 8 of 10) GRA N D CHA M I'lO N, Mike Lafferty (KTM) . HIP A: Pc,tGa rr a han (KTM). HIP B: Bru ce Sta rre r (Hon). . Hl p C: Dou g Simone (KTM ). NA T l AA : l. Rand y H a w kin s (Ya m) ; 2. Ke vin H ines (Yam); 3. Matt Slavi sh (Hon ); 4. Richard Lafferty (KTM ); S. Mike Slechta. RGNt AA: 1. Fred Hoess (5uz) ; 2. Ch ris Sm ith (He n): 3. M.uk Spence (H e n): 4. Jerry Madore (Ya m); 5. Bill Atkinson (KTM ). A 125: 1. Pat Emmons (Yam); 2. Craig Heyer (H us): 3. Ellis Tomlin (Suz) . ' A 200: 1. Darrell Sla cbe rke (KTM); 2. Mike Sig et y 3. Dean Olsen (KTM ); 4. Robert Moho (Ka w ): 5. joseph Tavan! (Kawl , A 250: 1. Mike Arendasky ( Ka w); 2. Kemp Stewart a ' lus); 3. Jam es Kelly (H u s); 4. Ra(fj Peterson S (KTM); 2. Scott Ho ginski (CRE); 3. Ray Mck o wn (Ka w ): 4. Eric Landon (K.1W); 5. Steve Jam ison (H on ). 8 4·STRK: 1. C h uck Morin (H o n); 2. Jim Pr ice (Hon); 3. Paul Nault (H on ); 4. Chri s Cru ll (Yam); 5. Rick Sagun Il-lo n). ( Hu ~); B OPEN: 1. Pat A rmstron g (C RE); 2. Pete Vanryswood (KT M) ; 3. Dave walker (A TK ); 4. To ny Ma zur (KT'M ); 5. Brooks Saunders (KTM). 8 SR: I. Bob Fester (Hon) ; 2. Peter Ana nia (Ho n); 3. Dan Co m p to n (KTM) ; 4. Ronald Pra tt (Ka w ): 5. Russ Macintyre (Kaw). B VET: 1. Jim Aiello (K1N1); 2. David Duga s (!

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