Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127966
NCCE Enduro Series,Round 6
The Merced Dirt Riders sent particip ants out o n to a tw o-l o o p , 85 - mi le
co u rse un der crisp , b rig ht blu e s kies,
wit h temper atures in the low 40s. Tra il
co nd itio ns wer e nea rly perfect, due to
early autumn rains and a carefully laidout co u rse, designed by MDR ' s Mike
Darnaso.
Lo op o ne ch a ll e n g ed rid ers w ith
nearly 50 mil es of· tigh t wood ed sections , rocky hills, fast fire roads and two
spec ial tests.
Wesner sa id tha t well-pla ced checks ,
so me of which were unpredictable, kept
him alert through the first loop.
"The tes ts weren 't super-lon g, so I
w as able to go in to gas wi th a good
score," Wesner said .
The seco nd loop fea tured twisting
wooded tr ail s, fi re road s and se vera l
technica l rocky sections .
A very rocky third special test cause d
Wesner to drop two points.
"1 just tried to ride it," said the Cycle
Pro-backed Wes ner as he described the
loose rocks that were atop the underlying lava bed s . "Energy and s ta mi na
were both determining factors for me in
that third test."
Th e eve nt' s second through eig h th
overall finishers were separated by just
45 ti~breaking seconds.
Marty Wald en, who tu rned in a score
card sho wing 4.145, too k second overall
and first A Vet honors by just thr ee secon ds ov er Ed Diaz's 4.148. Diaz ca p tured the firs t A Four-Stroke and third
overall pos itions.
Fin ishing fourth ove ra ll and second
in the AA clas s, with a 4.154, was Dave
Froman , who ed ged Brian Butler a nd
his tot al of 4.158 into the fifth overa ll
a n d th ird AA-cla ss places . Thi s wa s
Butler 's first event since end u ring a dislocated should er and th e requisite followin g surgery last Jun e.
Six th 'overall w en t to Dam ien Ga l-
(Left) Kawasaki-mount ed Craig Wesner
won the overall in the Little Polecat
Enduro, held In Long Bam, California.
(Below) Brian Buller finished fifth overall
and third in the AA class.
ford , who took first in the combined A
125 /200 / 250cc clas s w ith 4.165, a nd
nex t , in se venth o ve ra ll an d firs t A
O pen, was Michael Behrens, ca rd ing a
4.167. Compl eting the top eig h t was
Dave Wood , fourth in the AA class, with
a 4.190.
Walden, wh o usu ally rid es a 125, was
tr yi ng out his YZ400 in an end u ro for
the first time.
"My main go a l wa s just to no t fall
d own," he said . " I am pleased I-did so
well . I'm reall y surp rised I did good on
those rocks in the s peci a l test; I jus t
wanted to keep the bike from dying."
Ano ther rid er who w as su rp rised
with his finis h was Diaz.
"1 lost my red box a nd had to ride
witho ut seei ng mileage," Diaz said . "I' m
gra tefu l to Chris (VonKleist), wh o was
on my minu te and let me pace off him."
Ea rly in th e fi rs t lo o p , D ia z a lso
broke the bolt that holds his rear-brake
ped a l. He rode to gas without a rea r
brake, but he wa s able to fix it before
go ing ou t onto the second loop.
Froman described severa l other riders ' experiences on the rocks as well as
his own.
"We never had a chance to get a
good rhyt hm going," he explained. "We
were p in g-po nged and flound ered all
over. No one cou ld sta nd up for very
lo ng or si t down for ve ry long . The
Merced Dirt Ride rs d eserve a lot of credit for putting on such a good event, and
especially for working so hard to protect
the Ruby Burn Ar ea by hav ing us rid e
al ong th ose trail s a t carefu lly selec ted
speeds: '
(~
NCCE Enduro Ser ies
Long Bam, California
Results: Octobe r 4, 1998
O /A : 1. C raig w esn er ( K.,W); 2. Mar ty Wald en
(Yam); 3. Ed Dia z (Yam); 4. Dave Froma n (Kaw): 5.
Bria n Butler (Hon) .
AA : 1. C ra ig Wt>Snt'r (J(."1w); 2. D.1\Ic Froman (K.tw);
3. Bria n Butle r (He n): 4. Dave Woo d (eRE) ; 5. Scott
Brigh t (Kaw).
A O /A : 1. M art v wald en (Yam); 2. Ed Diaz (Yam);
3. Da mie n Galford (K.,W); 4. Mich iWI Behrens (KTM) ; 5.
Eric Ducrav (Yam) .
A 12Si200/2S0: 1. Damicn C... lford (Kaw) : 2. Eric
Ducr a y (Yam) ; 3. Rob Zimmerman (KTM); 4. Bria n
Sper le (Hon): 5. Craig Hoffma n (K.,W).
A 4-STRK: 1. Ed Dial. (Ya rn): 2. Russ ell Pe reira
(Hon): 3. Glen n Ma rtin son (KT M); 4. ja son Ho we (Hon);
5. Jo h n Poo r (Hon).
A OPEN: 1. Mic hae l Beh ren s (KT M) ; 2. C h ris
Slech ta (C RE).
A VET:~ 1. Mar ty walden (Yam); 2. Eric VonUr ff
(Ha n); 3. Mark DeMa rco (KTM); 4. Bill jorvi s (Hon): 5.
.
Stephen Settler ( Hon ) .
A SR: 1. Scott Re yn old s ( Hon): 2. Kent Parke r
( Kaw): 3. Da vid Ra y m on d ( KT M); 4. Dave La nc o r
(KTM ); S. Terry Pederson (KTMl .
A S/SR: 1. Richard Ada n (Ho n): 2. Wad e Tu ma
(Hon): 3. Pete r Prichard (KTM~; 4. Doug Behr (Ka w): 5.
Bill Tav lor (Hon).
A'W MN: 1. Kath v Tuma (Yam) .
BOlA: 1. Da rre ll Bish op (Han); 2. Joe y Silva
(Ka w); 3. John Poor IHc n): 4. Ley Wilson ( KTM); 5.
Troy Bart le (KTM).
B 2001250: I. JOt."YSil..·a (K.l w); 2. Hea ther Wilson
t Ka w): 3. Bobby T ho m pso n ( Kaw): 4. Simo n
Ph izacker ly (}io n); 5. lim Ca m pbe ll (Suz).
B 4-STRK: 1. Darrell Bish op (Ho n): 2. John
Poo r (Han); 3. Da ve Cl e mons (Ya m); 4. Da vid
Robinson (Han); 5. Troy McWillia ms (He n).
B OPEN: 1. Jef f Menni ck ( Hon); 2. Mik e
Von asek (Ho n): 3. Jeff Mauro IHo n); 4. C hris
Burton (I