Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SETRA EnduroSeries, Round 7: Gobbler Getter Enduro By Kenn eth King M APLESVILLE, AL, NOV. I wo-time SETRA end u ro champ ion Franklin Ramey III wrapped up an other w in for Gas Ga s by taking the overall at the Gobbler Getter Enduro in Maplesville, Alabama . Ram ey dropped 34 points to claim his victory . "I didn't have an y trouble to speak of," Rame y sa id . "Missed a few checks by seconds, then I got tu rned arou nd m a section before th e gas, a nd th at cost me a po int. 1 have to say th is was the toughes t en duro I've raced to date." In the runner-up position was KTM's A llen G ravi tt , w ho finished just one poi n t shy of Ramey wi th a 35. " I ha d a good rac e, " Gra v itt. " I missed the cards by a few secon ds at a co u p le of checks a nd I go t lost , but it was a good, tou gh end uro." Nolan Knig h t, rid ing fo r Gas Gas, ro u nded ou t th e top three with a 42point loss. "I had a d ecent rid e tod ay," Knig ht said . "I was a point or tw o off Franklin and Allen in a few sec tions, bu t I hu ng in there for an old SERA rider." SETRA fro nt-ru nne r Jason Ch ancey, who is in a close battl e w ith Ram ey an d Gravitt, mat ched th eir sco res early in the race bu t the n go t lost, res u lting in his first 0 F this yea r. The Go bbler Ge tte r Enduro was an even t co -sa nc t io ne d by SET RA a nd SERA. It has always had a repu ta tion as one of the tougher races. This yea r, the Pe rry Mountai n Mot orcycle Club and tra il bo ss Glen n H olli ng shead pulled out all the sto ps an d ga ve riders on e to remem ber: The 90 miles of tou gh , tight tra il w ould ca u se m ore DN Fs th an SETRA has seen in a long w hile . The a rea is bl essed w it h an abu ndance of cha lle ng ing terrain : Root s, roc ks , hill s and tight, technical trails we re the norm. "This race could eas ily be a Na tional," Gra vitt said . "We d on 't ha ve one in the South right now, and Glenn coul d host a good one." The end u ro was di vided in to seve n p oin ts- stealing se ctio ns. So me of th e later sec tio ns of trail wer e u sed tw ice. The first two sections were run wi th an 18-mph a ver age. The rem ainder were run at 24 mph. The b eg inn in g of the fi rst sectio n came at 3.3 miles, lead ing to 5.7 miles of tight trail. The terrai n was har d to tackle - eve n at the low speed average. Ramey posted the fas t time with a o ne-point loss . G ra vitt was next with a two, as we re SERA AA rider Stephen Reed and eeley Rating's Cha ncey. " I mi ssed tha t check by three seconds," Gravitt said later . "It pretty much cost me the race." SETRA AA rid ers Dou g Masencup a n d Mi ke G rizz le, S ERA's Ge org e Waller Jr. and a lan Knight all dropped three poi nt s. Section tw o, ano the r 5.7miler, was a bit eas ier, and all the AAs clea ned it. Th e t h ird sec tio n con s is ted o f Maples vi lle' s in famou s switc hb acks 10.8 miles of them. The trail weaved u p an d dow n throu gh hand leb a r- wid th trees, with patches of clear-cu t ad d ed to make things interes ting. The speed average was bum p ed to the usu al 24 mph, and Chancey kicked things up a not ch to post the fast time, d ropping fou r poi nts. "I knew Franklin got me in the first section, and I just had to speed up," said Chan cey. Ram ey, Gravitt, Knight and Reed all dropped fi v e. Wall e r, Griz zl e a n d Masencup posted sixes . "I go t a little turned aro und in this T Franklin Ramey III wrapped up another victory in the SETRA Enduro Series by dropping 34 points and claiming the win at a tough Gobbler Getter Enduro in Maples ville, Alabama. sec tion," Ram ey sai d . "In the clear -cut, ther e were some arr ows torn away, or 1 jus t mi ssed on e, b ut it cos t me so me time finding the trail." The final section before the gas wa s a sho rt 5.6 mil es. This time, it was Reed a nd his Kaw asaki th at po st ed th e fas t time with a one- point loss. Rainey was next with a tw o, as wer e Gravitt, Knight and Chan cey . Ma sencup, Wall er and Grizzl e d ropped three poi n ts. The gas stop came at 53 miles, givi ng everyone a brea k. The tem pera ture was in th e 80s by this time, and the trail was dusty. Up to th is point, Reed, Ra mey and Cha ncey were tied at eig ht points eac h . Gravitt had a nine. " Dus t was ba d in pl a ces," Gra vitt sa id . " It mad e it hard to pass slower ride rs. So me times i t was s o du s ty, I cou ldn' t see the ground , and I was rid ing about B-rider speed." Th e firs t p oints taker afte r the gas wo u ld be the longest of the race, at IS mi les. G ravi t t knew h e wa s a p o int d own and that he would have to crank it up. Ramey kn ew th a t th is was th e type of terrain that Gravitt a nd his 200 craved . This section was tight and used so me of the trail fro m the first 18-mph sec tions of the rac e. But now it wa s at 24. The trail had cha nged d ramatically, as several hundred rid ers had ridd en throu gh. Brakin g and a cce le ra t io n bumps covered the trail. Ram ey a nd G r av itt wou ld match sco res wi th six poin ts - two less than the next-closest riders. This was also where Cha ncey saw his race en d . "I w a s riding ha rd and w as a t th e firs t possible in the sec tio n ," Cha ncey said . "There wasn't a chec k, so I gassed it, thi nk ing there just wasn't a check-in. I was well in to my minute befo re I rea lized I was los t. I had been fo llowi ng arrows; I was jus t follo wing them in a sectio n we had ran earlier. I ran into Clay Beerin g (Fo rmer SER A endu ro cha mp), and he was lost , too. By then it was too late, so we bo th called it a d ay. I w ould have liked to rid e th e secon d half. Tha t's where the real race was ." Knight went in to the sect ion late, losing a point at the check-in and posting an eight-poin t loss, as di d Masencup. "I broke a brake pedal off in the section after the gas," Knig ht said. "It cost me , but I wa s able to replace it a t the reset." At 81 miles, it was time for the C rid ers to ca ll it a day. Th e cutoff w ou ld ease some of th e p assin g problems in the final sections . After a sma ll reset, it wa s on to a 1O.8-miler . It was a repeat of the previous section, with bo th Gravitt and Ramey matc hing each other's score of seven. Knigh t, Masencu p an d 200cc A rider Matt Joachim all d ropped eig ht. G rizz le a n d 250cc A winner Ru s s ell Epley dropped nine, and Waller lost 10. The final trail of the da y beg an wi th a restart a t 111.0 miles. Most riders never ma d e it th is far, as the tw o sec tio ns before caus ed the majori ty of the DNF s. Th is la st tra il would argua b ly be th e tou gh e st. It wa s 11. 2 mil e s of tig h t switchbacks . Up and do wn, rig ht tum, left tu rn - it wen t like that for most of the section . It was d ifficu lt eno ugh to claim more th a n a poin t a mile from SET RA's tw o bes t riders . Gravitt a nd Ramey lost 13 poi nts each. "I crash ed ha rd on one of the downhills," Gravitt sai d . "I was tired, and on the dow n hi ll the re was a hard r ig h t tu m . I couldn' t ge t my foo t off the rea r brake, and th e rear end lost tra ct ion , swung aro und and wrap ped m e around a tr ee . I'm just lucky no thi ng bro ke." "M y Gas Gas wo rked re al goo d tod ay," Rame y said . "I had a few close calls, but luckily I neve r had any sp ills. It was a good race - by far the tou gh est I' v e see n in a wh il e ; a goo d one, thou gh." G rizzle, Waller a n d Ma sencu p a ll d ropped 15, easily putting them in the top 10. SERA's Ma tt Joa ch im , in th e 200cc class, d ropped 48 points to clai m H igh Po int A honors. Overa ll B came from the 250cc class, wit h Kim Watson d ro pping 58 points. Ov er all C wen t to Scott Mount with a score of 31. He, too, f~ rod e the 200cc class: Gobbler Getter Enduro Maplesville, Alabama Res ults : November 1, 1998 (Round 7) O /A; Franklin Ramey In . AA: 1. Allen G ravi tt; 2. N ola n Knigh t; 3. Stephe n R~~ . . 200 A: 1. M att Jo a ch im; 2 . Martin Prue tt; 3 . Ia n Sherwood . 250 A: 1. Russe ll Epley: 2. Steve n Smi th; 3. Dav id Crai n. O PEN A: 1. Dwig ht Rudder; 2. Bob Sills; 3. David Morgan . INT A: 1. Jimmy Wa r d ; 2. Jeff Hyd e; 3. Ro n ny Hand . VET A: 1. Ron ald Robinson; 2. je ff Burchfie ld ; 3. Re bert Co w les . 4·ST RK A: 1. Da vid Vinl'S; 2. Stan Ga ntt; 3. Dou g McKPe. S R A: 1. Mi tch Mc Rt.>,t; 2. Te rry Hug hes; 3. GMy Barr . 200 8 : 1. And y Dean; 2. Rodn e y O ve rs t ree t: 3 . Cars ten Ca gle. 250 A: 1. Frank Davis: 2. Ch ris McMilla n; 3. LUGl,", Comea ux. OPEN 8 : 1. Jamie Waite; 2. C hris Doran ; 3. Bruce Yarbrough. INT B: 1. Dav id Jones ; 2. Robert Morri s; 3. Barry Riggsbee. VET 8 : 1. J.T . Go rdy ; 2. A rt h u r Jeff r ey ; 3. Pat williamson. SR 8 : 1. Kenneth King; 2. Clin t jo hnson : 3. George Nixon . 4-STRK 8 : 1. John Rt"t"Cl; 2. M il t" Cul ler: 3. Brian Payne . • 200 C: 1. Scott Mou nt; 2. Tommy Byrd ; 3. Dav id Dekerlegand . 250 C: 1. Dan e Smith; 2. Scott Smith; 3 . jaso n Brock. O PEN C: 1. Jim my Ru ssell; 2. [e re my Bordes; 3. Blaine Willia ms. 4-STRK C: 1. Allen You n~ 2. Wayne Sta rkley, 3. Aaron Dea n. 125 C: 1. Michael Dailey: 2. Luke Durham. (NT C: L Andrew Dn'S~I; 2. Andy Graben; 3. Mark Av . . VET C: 1. Mel Sm it h; 2. Ceorge Tolson: 3. C reg Tind ell . SR C: 1. Ca meron Smi th; 2. Tony Gra ben; 3. Tim No rd i. S/S R A: 1. Robert Ne eley; 2. joe Royal; 3. joh n Kirb y. S/S R B: 1. Kirt Lyn ch ; 2. Stev e Pierce; 3. Doran Carre lI . S /S R C: I. Alan wh eat croft : 2. Benn y Ham by; 3. Sonn y Robe rts. MS TR A: 1. Jim Ford ; 2. Ernest Lyn ch ; 3. Ter ry Webb. MST R 8: 1. Johnn y Thom as: 2. Michael Thompson: 3. Bill Watk ins. MST R C: 1. Fra nk Am os; 2. Ed Wei !'> t; 3. Tomm y Neal. GLDN MST R: 1. Ric ha rd Sm it h ; 2. Pa ul Richardson; 3. R. Agra brigh t. WMN: 1. Ne eley Fran kli n; 2. Elaine No b les : 3. Chris ty Black. JR 100: 1. Chase Brown ; 2. Dustin Stevens ; 3. Kevin Gray . JR OPEN: 1. W~ ley Porter; 2. Tre y Cail; 3. Bryan Petty. 00 0\ 0\ ,..... ~' I-< Q) .c E Q) u Q) c 39

• Cover