Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Enduro Round 2: Desert Mountain National Enduro AMAIACERBIS NA TlONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ENDURO SERIES By Cameron Coatney Photos by Chris Lockett LAKE PLEASANT, AZ, FEB. 28 y Davis rode to his second win in as many tries after round two of the AMA/ Acerbis National Championship Enduro Series made its annual stop in the Arizona desert for the Desert Mountain National Enduro. Davis rode his Montclair Yamaha/ Moose/Acme Suspension YZ250 to the lowest score of 34 even though he was still not fully recovered from a serious bout with heat exhaustion incurred the week before at the Laughlin Hare Scrambles. After electing not to head out to Florida's Bike Week to take part in the opening round of the Grand National Cross Country Series in Okeechobee or the famed Alligator Enduro, -qavis was pleased he could give Yamaha some sort of win. "The win feels good because the competition was really tough since there were about eight guys who could've won it," Davis said. "It's nice when a series like this comes out here to the West and I can win the first two. I don't plan on riding the rest of the series, and that's too bad since it's one of the series I'm doing best in - I DNFed the first T 26 Ty Davis ruled the Arizona desert, winning round two of the AMA National Enduro series. race of the hare and hound series and didn't do too well at the Laughlin Hare Scrambles, either." Even with a small but confusing timing problem (the key, or start time, was four minutes faster than the clocks at the checks), the Arizona Trail Riders put on a tough, two-loop, 82-mile enduro that was extremely tight, rocky and dusty. Cactus-strewn terrain combined with tiny goat trails on the ridges' and hillsides kept all of the riders on their toes especially the C-class riders, who only had to ride the brutal first loop. Finishing second on the day four points behind the leader was Colorado's Kelby Pepper. The Apex Yamaha/ Hyper Sports/Pro Circuit/MSR-sup- ' ported rider, who plans on chasing points in the National Hare Scrambles Series this year, hung right with Davis for most of the day. "The race went pretty smoothly for me," Pepper said. "I was a little confused for the first few checks since the clocks were all. wrong, and it got everybody off to a bad start since it took us a while to figure out where ]Ne were, scorewise. But I kne~ going ipto the last loop that Ty and I were pretty much tied, so it all came down to the last section." Two-time and defending National Enduro Champ\on Mike Lafferty finished third overall on his KTM Sportmotorcycle/Moosecbacked 250 E/XC with a 40-point scorecard. .Riding AA for the first time, Team Green / Pro Circui t / Acerbis I Sco ttqacked Destry Abbott rode to a fourthplace finish with a score of 41. The. Peoria, Arizona, resident made the 30-minute trip worth his while. "When I got home and someone told me how well I did, I was actually really surprised," Abbott said. "I didn't think I did that well, but I know other people were having problems, too. The day started out really well, but the time-keeping problem really disturbed me. Then, about 20 miles into it,') started having proble¢lls with my computer when the wires came loose and it stopped working. Then I blew a check, and that upset me because I knew if I wanted to win it, I couldn't do stuff like that. "At the halfway point I got my computer working again and it got tougher, but I just wasn',t on," Abbott continued. "Davis was on the minute behind me and was riding really good and passed me. From tha t point on, I just put it on survival mode so I could finish. The bike was working good, but I just thought I could have ridden a lot better than I did." Desert ace Nick Pearson trekked over from Las Vegas, Nevada, to finish a creditable fifth overall in only his' fifth enduro ever. The KTM/Moose/Pro Circuit-supported rider turned in a 43point card and took the overall win in the A class. "The race was nice and tight and I like the way they set up the course, but the checks being off on time had me guessing whether I was doing good or not," Pearson said. "Then I blew a check right before the gas stop when I missed a reset, and that cost me like seven points. When I came into the pits, I heard that everybody else was off on time, so when I compared cards, I saw that I was doing pretty good. After that, I rode pretty well and had a good, fun ride." Halfway into the second loop, things went south for Nick Pearson's brother Russ while the KTM/Moose-backed rider was running well inside of the top 10. His hope of improving upon his stellar third-place finish from the series opener in Coalinga, California, was out of the question. "He went off of the trail right in front of me and there was a 20-foot cliff below," Nick Pearson said. "He hit his bars on' this big cactus and it sent him off. I almost went off right behind him but saved it. He had to wait for two big guys to come and help get his bike back up to the trail. He was pretty much out of it after that." Russ Pearson eventually ended up 15th overall with a score of 67. ' Yamaha/MSR/White Brothers-sponsored Randy Hawkins finished sixth with a score of 46. "I rode okay,. but I kind of struggled in the morning," Hawkins said. "It just. took me a while to get going. Those conditions out there are some of my weakest. For my whole career, the desert-type terrain has been one of my weakest areas. But I've only got to ride out there twice a year, basically, so I don't get a lot of practice. I thought Ty and Kelby did a great job and rode extremely well." Scot Stretch took seventh overall and second 250cc A, followed by AA rider Matt Stavish, Vet A winner Wayne Intermill and Brian Brown in 10th. l;he challenging course had many of the riders talking about the "Jumping Choya" cactus, which littered the twisty course. "I had fun, but every now and then, touching those cactus gets pretty old," Hawkins said. "It's pretty bad when you have to go to the drugstore the night before the race to get some tweezers and a comb to deal with the cactus. That's all part of the game, though." "The first eight or 10 miles was'really a bad section, full of cactus," Pepper agreed. '1t was unusual, because they got a lot of out-of-state riders since this was a Nati~nal. There were so many guys that got into that stuff (cactus) early, but I learned my lesson three years ago." Another small problem arose at the end of the event when the final section was protested and ultimately thrown out on a technicality. Since many of the top riders ran out of gas in the section, some riders were helped, while some were hindered. "When) left the event, I was in the fourth position," Hawkins said. "I knew that I had struggled earlier, but I knew that if I picked it up in the last AA section that I could help out my SCOteS quite a bit. There was no problem with the check, and then I heard there was a protest about it - it's just a shame. To be honest with you, you could go to every enduro and could probably find something to nit-pick and protest. Basically, the protests usually come from guys who screw up in a section or do something wrong, and then they protest just for their benefit. The club did everything right. I just wish that they would've let the scores stand and then take up the protest with the 'AMA." CIII Desert Mountain National Enduro Lake Pleasant, Arizona Results: February 28,1999 (Round 2 of 14) OIA, 1. Ty Davis (Yam); 2. Kelby Pepper (Yam); 3. Mike Lafferty (K1"M); 4. DeStry Abbott (J~aw); S. Nick Pearson (K1"M). • AA, 1. Ty Davis (Yam); 2. Kelby Pepper (Yam); 3, Mike Lafferty (l(TM); 4. Des,try Abbott (!

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