Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Northern California Championship Enduro Series,Round 8: Jackham n ro merE du f ) I road s and some free time before th e last special test, w hich ended at chec k 10, the fina l check. The o nly ot he r position change between the top riders occurred at chec k eight, where Wesner dropped one point and Butler dropped two. Wood finis hed wi th a card showing 10.286, and Wesner ha d a final score of 13.341. Butler's 14.326 kep t him ahead of fo u rt h overall and first A 250cc -class winner Gerbi's 14.379. Stowe held on to fifth with a 15.357, ju st tw o seco nds qu ick er than sixth -placed Kohler's 15.359. l~ Jackhammer Enduro Fouts Springs, Califo rn ia Results: Oct ober 18, 1998 OIA: 1. O.lVC Wood Ce RE); 2. Cra ig w esn e- (Kaw): 3. Brian Butler C n); 4. [aso n Ce rbi (He n): 5. Tim J. Ho Stowe (Suz) . AA:. 1. Dave Wood (eRE); 2. Cr aig wesner (Kaw): 3. Brian Butler (Han); 4. Dave Fro man ( K,lW ). A 200: 1. Roderick Kreiss (Suz ); 2. Reb Zimmerman (KT M ); 3. Robert w ynn (KT M) . A 250: I. Jason Cerbi (Hon), 2. Tim J. Stowe (SllZ); 3. Erik Kohler (Ya m); 4. Ben Ha tch (Hon): 5. Erk DuCray (Y am) . A 4· ST RK: 1. Glenn Martin son (KT M): 2. Ia so n Howe (H en). By Jill Ashworth Patter son FOlITS SPRL "JGS, CA, OCT. 18 ,......, ,...... ... QJ .o E QJ >o z 36 RE-mounted Da ve Wo od cl a im ed the o ve r a ll and AAclass tit les at the 28th a n nua l Jac k ha m m e r Enduro , held at Fouts Springs. Wood 's speed and expertise in choosing w hich line to ride - sometimes in n ea r-z ero-v isibility dust - helped account for a three-point win over second overall and AA-elass finisher Craig Wesn er . The round-eig ht win is Woo d's third in the N orthern California Championship End uro Series. Th e O akland Motorcycle Club sent 182 rid ers out onto a 97.1-m ile, two-loop course, design ed by members Brian Jagger and George Keeran. The firs t riders started at 7:30 a.m., before th e sun was shining . • Th e first loop was nearly all technical sections and tigh t tr ails . It had on e spe. cia l te~t bet ween checks one and two, w here all th e top riders dropped thre e or mo re po ints. . Wesner checked out of the test wi th th e best time of 3 .154, foll owed by Wood ' s 3.163. Brian Butler, who took th ird overall an d the AA-elass honors, was nex t wit h 3. 169. Erik Kohler squeezed h is 3.173 in front of Tim J. Stowe's 3.174, and the nex t-fastest time was Jaso n Gerb i's 3.200. . A t che ck th ree, Wesner w as still in th e lead ; the n his computer failed. He lost two points at check four, which put . him into second place - behind Wood, who carded a one. "Somew here abo u t mile 28 I sta rted rid ing blind, bu t Brian (Bu tler) was on the minute ahead of me, so 1 wa s able to get a goo d key off him," Wesner said. Ge rbi, who also only dropped o ne point at check fo ur, m ov ed into third, push ing Butler back to fo urth . Kohler and Stowe s e ttled into th e fifth- a n d sixth-place positions. High speed ave rages, tigh t tra ils and dust - lo ts of dust - kept riders alert. "I had a rea l wake-u p call in the d ust, wh er e a downed tree was on the blind side of a tight com er," Wood said. "The choice was, mak e an instan t stop or hit it. It was too big to ride over." Wood was ab le to stop. Several ot he r rid ers also talked about (Above) Dave Wood ti pt oed hi s way through the dusty conditions to win the NCCE Series Jac khammer Enduro in Nort hern Californ ia. (Below ) Craig Wesne r (ri ght) rides around Rod Kreiss en route to a second overall finish. (Bott om righ t) Br ian But ler rode to a th ird-pl ace fi ni sh. A OPEN: 1. Brodie Dt·M.nt ile (H en ): 2. Michael Behrens (KTM); 3. Dean Reed, -I. Mike Simmons IHus) . A VET: 1. Mar c DeM.ucu (KTM); 2. Eric Vontlrff (Hen ): 3. Ben Gledhill (Ka w ): 4. Bill Ia rvis (Hon) : 5. KIrk Goddard (Ya m ). A SR: 1. Scott Reynold s Oilm ); 2. Dale C reenhalgh (KTM); 3. wayne Hat ch ( K.1W); -I. Jon Ellis (Hus). A S/SR: 1. Peter Prie,h.1N ("'-""Th1); 2. jeff Ca rr (Hon). BOlA: I. T roy Bar tle (KTM); 2. Ch ris Thomas (Hon); 3. jo hn Poor (Hon) : 4. Joey Silva (I(a\ ,,); 5. Darre ll ' Bishop (H en). B 200: 1. C had C rass (H e n ): 2. Bobby Thom so n (Ka w ): 3. Kent Jl'nkin"! ( Kaw]: -toRuss Gn .. nfield (Hon). e B 2SO: 1. Chri s Thoma.... (Hun); 2 J~ Silva (Kaw): 3. Mike jura (Ho n): 4. Heath er WiI"",n ( K.1W) . B 4-STRK: 1. John Poor (finn); 2. Darrell Be -hop (He n): 3. Dave Clem ons (Ya m); -I. Greg Ruffoni (Hon); 5. Chuck Wolfsen (Hon) . eph Relh' (KTM). B OPEN, 1. B VET: 1. Tro y B.lrtLc ( K1'M); 2. Ley W il"On (KTM ); 3. Ron Wigington (Ho n): 4. Ke vin Morris ( KT~); 5. Kevin Brann (KTM ). B SR : 1. Dan Jenning!! (Suz) ; 2. Ala n Plu mb n dge (Kaw); 3. Nick Nicholso n (..... 'TM ). COlA: 1. Michael Phair (Ya m) 2. Ha rve y Schuler (Yam) ; 3. Brian Hammers (Hen) : 4. Jos hua An ello TYam); 5. Jeff Schu ltze (H en). j,,,,, C 2OQ: 1. Darrell Ju dy (Ka w ): 2. Ryan Bird [Ho n}, C 250: 1. Michael Pha ir (Y.lm); 2. Brian Ha mme rs q..'orge Smyrmoris {Hem): 4. Mike Middleton (Hon): 3. (Y am). C 4·STR K: 1. [oehua Ane llo (Yam); 2 Paul Murphy (Ho n): 3. Kevin Ruffon i (Hun); 4. Joe Petry (Hen): 3. Darrin Williams (Yam). COPEN: 1. Brian Bushman (Y" m); 2. Russ johnson (Kaw): 3. Jon Klopp (Yarn) . C VET: 1. Jeff Schult ze (Hun); 2. Paul Ca rr (KT r-..-1);3 . Brody Borgogn o (KTM); 4. Man Ca rr (~TM ) ; 5. David ke(KTM). C SR: 1. Ha rvey Schuler (Y,lm); 2. Steve Maionchi (Ya m ); 3. Re ggie Kcse ck cr (H bg) : 4. Sie ve Ni chols (He n): 5. Hu go Z wetsloor (KTM). on C S/S R: 1. Meuri g Davi es (Kaw): 2. Bruce webb (Hon): 3. Brad Bird (Hon): 4. K R. Deliree (KT M); 5. Bru ce Sax ton (Yam). so me fallen trees along one tra il and in the dusty conditions. Some were able to avoid th e logs, but o thers w ere n ' t so luck y. "Before 1 could see a downed tree by the trail ," sai d Dave From an , fourt h AAcl a ss fin isher, "I w a s going over m y bars . I landed hard." "O ther rid ers w ere awesome abo u t pulling ove r to a llow fas ter riders p ass in such extreme dust," noted Wood. A long tra il down Letts Ridge in the Mendocin o National Forest led riders to the gas stop at 48.5 mil es. Loop two was designed to test rid er' s en d urance with its stee p , rocky dow nhill s, to ugh horsepower uph ills, a nd speed ave rages that varied between 19 and 48 mph. Check six was the check-in for speci al test nu mber two. Before riders got to the end of the test - at check seven - th ey had to cross H yphus Creek and ge t ou t of "No Way Out Canyon." A tough uphill turned out to be the cause an unusual bo ttleneck for th e A rid ers. Several riders quickly named it "the hill from hell ." "I love a race where you can see A riders all over th e place," Butl er sa id. 'The Bs must be ha ting it." "Th ere w ere As all over tha t hill, s ta ck e d like ca r d boa rd ," Fro m a n obse rv ed . . It took many riders more than two attempts to ma ke it up that hill. Several wer e houred-out by the time they made it to check seven . Some never made it; opting to go back out on the sa me trail they took in. Wood sa id tha t th ere were tw o o r three riders sta lled on the hill w he n he got ther e. "I jus t picked a d ifferent line, put it into seco nd gea r, a nd wheelied ri ght by," Wood said. The scores a t chec k seven cha nged the order of th e six lead ing riders. Wood secu red hi s lea d with a 0.14. Butler jumped to second with a 0.26, and Wesner ' s 1. 69 p ut him in th ird . Gerbi dropped into fou rth with a 1.39. Stowe's 1.49 moved him into fifth , while Kohler fell back to sixt h by adding 1.76 to his score card . Rid ers then had some fast trails, fire

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