Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.ECE areScramble AH sSerie Round 9: Lumis Mill HS s, By Mark Uth LUMISTOW , J, ocr. 18 ational End uro cham p Mi ke Laffer ty go t the o ve ra ll win a t the ECEA Lu m is Mill Hare Scra mbles with a wi re-to-wire victorv: ho wever, Fred H oes; took cen ter stage, as his second-place finish clinched the 1998 Series Champi onship for the Su zuki rid er. The . Bro mlev Suzuki / Answer /WER-ba cked Hoess al mos t won the 'ov erall, too , after being knocke d d own at the sta rt and comi ng from behind to chall enge Lafferty in the last mo me nts of the final lap. For La ffe rty, it see med li ke it w as ano ther da y at the office. Riding a KTM factory-s ponsored 1999 250 EXC, Lafferty go t a top-five start and was soon at the fr o nt of th e pack, a p o s it ion h e h oa rd ed fo r the ra ce' s dura t ion . H e en joyed a lead tha t w as co mfortabl e ~nough to even pull in to th e pits after the fou rth an d fifth la ps so tha t coo ling w ater could be pou red onto his cooking rear-brak e caliper. How ever , it w as n' t to be quite that easy, as Hoess closed during the fifth lap and w as only 20 seconds beh ind at the start of the sixth lap. Hoess made a strong run at the top position duri ng the final trip aro und the 8m ile co urse, ce nte ring La ffe r ty in his sig hts less than a mil e from the fin ish. Sneaking u p on Lafferty, Hoess ha d one ill-fated shot at a pass. U th ink that Mike was jus t cruising, I not rea li z ing that I had ca u g h t up," H oess sa id . "Whe n the tim ing was right , I tri ed an ou tsid e pass , go t u p eve n w ith him an d thou ght I had it. Then wham! I pegged a stu m p, got squ irr elly and had to back off. Mike ste p ped it u p a ft e r that and we freig ht-trained into the barrels." Th e two rid ers s p rin ted in, finish ing 1-2, litera lly tire to tire. H onda XR250 rider Kev in Bennett ro u nd ed o u t th e podium, carvi ng his wa y to a third -overall finish on his near-s tock Honda . thumper. A three-ev ent card w as sche d uled for th e da y, which included ATV and You th hea ts, fo llo w ed by the mot or cycle main even t. All to ld , so me 200 rid ers en tered - a number n o d oubt bol s ter ed by id y ll ic wea t he r co nditions t h at incl uded sunny skies, light breezes an d d aytime- hig h temperatures in t he mid-70s. The co u rse was la id o u t in pine and d eciduous w o o dlands that w ere mostly o p en, wit h occasional thick stands of mountain laurel or second-growth pitch pine. Ra in that fell earlier in the we ek had pret ty much dri ed o u t, m aking the course so m ew ha t moi st at the be ginning, bu t not s lic k o r mudd v , T he m ain-event co u rse w as co mprised o f si ngle- tra ck tr ail, o ld wood ro ad s, a n d a few sections of the ATV co u rse . Even th e sing le- track trail was w id ened co nsidera b ly , wit h t he exp r e ssed in te n t o f pro mo ting passing opportunities. H ow ev er, thi s res u lted in tr ail speeds th a t w ere co nsi d erably eleva ted, makin g passing ev en ha rder. A number of new se ctions w ere cu t to route aro u nd trail that was rutted up in last ye ar's wet run an d connect ed various tr ail s ectio ns togethe r. These of te n pro ved to be th e most technical sect ion s of the course . At the start of the two- hour main eve nt, A an d AA classes lined up on the front row, awa iting the gu n. Later rows for B, C and specialty classes we re started at 30second intervals afterward . In the Expert start, a pair of KTM riders led the dash to the first tu rn. Richard Lafferty too k the L £I••e __ ~y £I nds r-nis ~ i n ~i e (Above) National Enduro Champ ion Mike Lafferty took the overall win at the ECEA Lumls Mill Hare Scrambles In New Jersey . (Left) Fred Hoess finished a close second but wrapped up the series champ ionship. (Below) Kevin Bennett rode his Honda XR250to third overall. hoIeshot clea nly, made the firs t tu rn and headed in to the woods, trailed by C raig Shen igo. Hoess go t k nocked down in the third turn fro m th e s ta rt a nd, by th e time he picked hi s RM up and restarted, he fo un d himse lf near the back of th e pa ck. All this wa s soo n to change, howe ver. Duri ng the first loop, Mike an d Jack Lafferty pa ssed th eir brot her Rich , as well as Shenigo, to take the lead, ass uming the 1-2 posi tions, respectively. H oess cha rged thro ug h the pack and caught u p as w ell , dogging Richard th ro u g h th e b a r re ls and o u t in to t he seco nd lap. thereafter , as Jack wa s havin g his share of trou bles, with ex tre me bli stering o n his left ha nd . Ke vin Ben nett found hi mself hams tru ng at the s ta r t by his seemi ngly u nde rpowered s to ck XR250 mill. Nonetheless, Benn ett cont inu ed to pick off riders th ro u ghou t th e ra ce, moving in to fift h, th en fo urth , and eventua lly into the third -place po sition. He passed a hurt in g Jack Lafferty and even tu a lly pa ssed Richard to ass ume th e nu mbe rthree slot during the fifth lap , finishing in th at p os iti on . Rich Laffe r ty a ls o appea red to be hurting lat e in the race bu t stilI man aged to stay in th e contest, co m p le ti n g six lap s to claim fo u rthovera ll honors . Jack Lafferty had perh ap s t he m o st rem ar kabl e ride . H e m om enta rily ret ired a fter the fifth lap with n early his entire. left th u mb ra w du e to blistering. " I just can 't ho ld on to my bike an y longer," Jack sai d. However, having just mad e the cuto ff fo r a s ix th la p and seeing tha t a good fin ish was still possible, Jack got so me first a id fo r h is hand a nd then set ba ck out o n his Husaberg , bei ng o ne of the last riders th rough the barr e ls . For h is effo r t, he e a rn e d si x t h overall on the m erit of s ix laps co mp let ed . Rou n d i n g o ut t h e top fi v e over all was Ka w asaki KLX pilo t Marc Grossm an, the only o th er rider ab le to co m p lete six la ps in th e a llotted twoho u r span. The t w o top r id ers , La ff ert y and H oess, consistently turned in lap times in the 22-23 minute range. Other notable finish ers included 'Dale Hiles, who continued his suc cessfu l return to racing by pu shing his KTM 200 to a first- place finish in the A Ligh t class. A YZ400-mou nted Mike McH ale took top hon ors in the combined Four-Stro ke class, while Mike Beel er, o n a YZ250 , ea rned th e fi rs tplace trophy in the Vetera n clas s. In B-c1ass action, top finisher s in the B Light an d B Heav y classes we re Lew Robbin s and Dave ash, resp ec tively. ovice-class riders Chris Schischkin and Mik e Melniczu k clai med top honors in the Novic e Light an d Hea vy classes. I:' ECEA Lumis Mill Hare Scrambles Lumistown , New Jersey Results : October 18 , 1998 C IA; 1. Mik. Laffertv (KTM1; 2. F"odII","", lSuz.) 3. ; Kevi n Bennett (Hen): ..: Rich Lafferty (KTM); 5. Marc Crossma n (Ka w ). A ()"249: 1. Dalt.> H iles (KTM); 2. C ra ig She nigo (KTM); 3. Michael Sigety (G-G); -I. Crt'S Davies (Yam) ; 5. Tod d Quinn (Kaw l. A 250. , I. Michael Lafferty (KTM1 2. Fred 110<'<.' ; (Suz); 3. Kevin Benndt (Hon) ; 4. Rich Leffertv (KTht:): 5. ~tan: Crossman (Kaw). • lJ.249: 1. lew Robb ins t5uz); 2. Robert M iku l ~ k i (fl u..); 3. Williol m Hes (Kaw): 4. Ron Decaro (Yam); 5. s Brian Bagby (Yam ). B 250+: 1. Da ve Nash (Ka w ): 2. Chris Vecchione ( Kd W); 3. Will i.lm Gilbert (Yam) ; -I. Lance Tho mson Hoess knocked off tw o lafferty brothers on the seco nd trip around, dropping Jack to third and Rich to fourth by the en d "of the second lap . A fading Rich Lafferty got around Jack Jr. soon (He n): 5. Jim Shai nline {Honl. e 0· 24 9: 1. C hri s Sch ischkin (Kaw) ; 2. Fr a nk Lu ppt.>f$Cr; 3. Chris Wattt.'TS (Kaw ): 4. John Dobrosky (Ya m); .;.J. Ryan Boyd (K,l W). C 250+ : 1. Michael Mei nicz uk (KTM) ; 2. Richard Stewart ; 3. Gary Cl.uk; -I. WiI1iJm 8ailt.· C y KTM ). 4~STRK: 1. Mike Mcl-ialc (Ya m); 2. Do ugla s Groff (Hus); 3. Steven Pfe ffer (Yam); 4. Daniel M.1 (Ho n); S. Y Wayn e Mason [Hen). VET: 1. Michael Beeler (Yam); 2. Ron Lucas ( KT~O; 3. An thony Sutt on (J(.)w); -I. Joseph Dublas (Yarn): S. ,1 C rocevera ( Ka w ). S R: 1. [ames Cu nselman (Yam ); 2. St u C ro uch (Hon]: 3. David Hurley (K., W); 4. Cary Noble (Hon) ; 5. C arv Cr aner. ·S /S R: 1. Jack Laffertv Sr. (KTM ); 2. Rich T rad ..r ' (KTM); 3. Tom Ebersol e (eR E); 4. RllC'CO Speno IYam ): 5. Lindsey Pirie (Hen). YTH A (tQ..ll t: 1. Dvlan Monta naro : 2. Edd i..· Scott; 3 . Chase C o m pto n (Hon} : 4. N ick Spano (K01",,' ; 5. josh ua Mangini. YTH n (12-15): 1. Jimmy Maul (Kaw); 2. Kvle Dt.o,,~ (Ho n); 3. Evan Bostro m o Z 37

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