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ENDURO AMAIACERBIS NATIONAL ENDURO SERIES Final Round: Indian River As menti on ed , La fferty go t off to a grea t start wi th a score of one, a nd he con tinued to lead the wav in the seco nd section, one that had tw o e me rgency chec ks. Lafferty, wh o had the bolt tha t a ttac hed the clutch cable loosen to the p oint tha t it st opped th e cl u tch from workin g , non etheless ripped through thi s sectio n with the top sco re, a 5:11. Close on his heels were Honda-mounted Sta vis h with a 5:26 and Mark Spence with a 5:35. Yamaha' s Doug Blackwell went a 5:37, w h ile Mi chi ga n aces Bersano and Jon Eric Burleson recored a 5:54 a nd a 5:57, respectively. Eas Coast rider Bill A tkinso n a nd Mic higan 's David Lipovsky , bo th on row 22, ha d the next-bes t scores, both riders comi ng in just over six minu tes late. (Left) Despite having already clinched the champ ionship , Mike Lafferty cranked off another overall win. (Below) Doug Blackwell ended the day fourth overall and second in the championship . By Jam ie Lipovsky 60 INDIAN RIVER, MI, AUG. 22 fter clinchi ng the Nationa l Enduro I Se ries Ch a mp ionsh ip tw o _ "l..- round s ea rlier a t th e Rh od e Island ro und , it wou ld have been easy for Mike Lafferty to res t on the laurels of his season' s acco mplishments - especia lly wit h the championship finally made rea l when AMA's Hug h Flemming presen ted Lafferty with th e nu mber-one plate here in Michigan. But Lafferty did n't rest , demonstrating his intention to take the overall win just 3 .2 miles after the start of th e Stumpjumpers Mot or cycle Clu b-hosted event -when he bette red the scores of all his com petitors at the first check with a score of one; 13 other rid ers vying for top berths in the champions hip all carded twos. From there o n, Lafferty was either equal to or bett er than anyone on th e cou rse and ro de to the wi n with a score of 21. His nearest rival on the d ay was Blair Bersano, w ho, in- add ition to fini shing second ov erall on 23 points, was also first in the 250cc class. Third on th e d a y wa s Minn es ota na tiv e Matt Stavish. Sta vish ran close to Laffter y' s sco res in th e ea rly sectio ns , but af ter so me late higher scores, d ropped off the 1998 cham pio n's pac e and was ultimately ed ged by Bersano, At the first gas, Laffert y held a slim margin with six p oints, while Stavish, Sp ence , Blackwell and Burleson had seven. Ber sano , Atkinson, Lipo vsky , Dick Burl eson , Californ ia's Pat Ga rrahan, Ron Scharphorn, Rich Lafferty and Scott Luca all had eig ht. The tw o sections from first gas to second gas pulled two rid ers ahead of the rest: Lafferty and Bersan o each dropped seven total points, whil e the rest of the field we nt nin e or mo re. This left Lafferty wi th 13 and Bersano with 15, while Stavish, Spence, Blackwell and Burleson ha d 16 apiece . A host of top Natio nal and AA Michigan riders we re still in the hunt wit h 17. Lafferty, however, left no doubt as to w ho was the top man on the cou rse in the fifth section. It was' sho rt - 3.6 miles lon g - and full of glacier-formed whoops a nd handl ebar-ti ght tree s . Laffe rt y cranked off a 4:19, some 26 seconds bette r tha n Stavis h's 4:45 . Burleson, Bersario a nd Atkinson were the only other riders to make it through with scores under five. Blackw ell, wh o completed the last half of the section minus one Barkbuster, came in jus t ove r five. Laffert y led by tw o points go ing into the last section and everyone knew that only a tot al co llapse on his par t could keep him off the top of the pod ium. The collap se d idn't come and the KTM pilot once again tur n ed in th e top sco re, p ulling in around the mid d le of the fou rth minu te to ta ke the wi n. Bersa no was closest in the section, pu lling in just u nd er five, with Blackw ell, Scharphorn, Stavis h, Ga rr ahan and Lipovsky the only others to card a five in the section. Other contenders weren't so lucky. Former ECEA champion Spence was third overa ll until problem s in the final section knocked him out of the race. And Jon Erik Burleson's day was over onl y a few miles from the finish, cos ting him a C~ fair ly certain top-five finis h. Stumpjumpers Motorcycle Club Indian River, Michigan Resu lts : August 22, 1998 (Round 10 of 10) O /A : 1. Michael Lafferty (KTM); 2. Blair Bersano (Kaw) : 3. Matt Stavish (He n): 4. Dou g Blackwell (Yam); 5. Patri ck Garrahan (KTM); 6. Rich Lafferty (KTM); 7. Ron Scharphorn (KTM); 8. Bill Atkinso n (KTM); 9. Scott Luca (KTM); 10. Davi d Lipovsky (KTM) , A MA /ACERB IS NATIONAL EN D URO C' S H l r SERIE S FINAL rOiNT STAN DI NGS lAf'er 10 of 10 rounds): 1. Micha el Laffert y (230 /6 wi n s); 2. Doug Blackwell (130/t); 3. Patrick Garrahan (23); 4. Rand y H a wki ns 0 17 / 1); 5. Matt Sta vis h ( 17) ; 6. Ty Da vi s (81/2); 7. Jaso n Dabners (70); 8. Des try Abbott (54); 9. Fred Hoess (50); 10 . Ru s se ll Pearson (46) ; 11. Bit! At ki nso n (43 ); 12. Richa rd La ffe r ty (42) ; 13. Da vid Lipovs ky (41); 14. Robb ie jenks (40); 15. Kelby Pepper (39).