Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Events Brian Butler maneuvers around a hairpin tum en route to the Wild Boar Enduro overall in Clear Creek, California. nine, was WoodlaJ;ld Cycle's Marty Walden. Yuba City Yarnaha/FMF/Cycle Gearbacked Ty Spooner was riding in fourth, with 10 points, and Fox/Factory Connection/Mach One-supported Dave Wood was holding fifth with a score of 13. The second loop took riders out past Spanish Lake, then north through a remote canyon that had not seen enduro traffic since 1985. Single-track trails, scenic views, fire roads and resets carried riders through the next five checks and over 44 more miles of terrain. Butler, Wesner and Spooner, along with many other riders, had trouble staying on course at various locations throughout the second loop. '1 took a wrong turn and got lost for a while," Spooner said. "When I got back on' course, my computer was flashing a false 'early.' I missed the next check by only a couple of seconds. It was so frustrating to be 10 feet from the check and see the clock click past my minute. Wesner also described being baffled while on loop two. "1 got off this one trail two different times without knowing it," Wesner said. "Then I found myself right back on it, but behind guys who were on the minute behind me," Wesner said. "[ don't know how that happened." "I railed past a slower rider and got off course," Butler said. "Then, when [ looked back over my shoulder, I saw his head bobbing up and down through the bushes where I should have beQn. I missed a turn." Butler's detour caused him to lose a point at check eight, and Wesner's zero put him into the lead. Walden, who recalled having similar problems a month earlier at the Quicksilver National (also held at Clear Creek), did not want to lose time by being off course again. "Anyone who rides Clear Creek has got to know there's little trails hidden everywhere," Walden said. "You've just got to pay extra attention and keep dou_ ble-cllecking for course markings." Loop two ended after check nine, and riders compared scores while at the gas break. Wesner had eight, Butler had nine and Walden had 10. Wood, the only rider to zero the whole second loop, moved into fourth witll his 13, just seconds ahead of Spooner's 13. Wesner and Butler were eacll suffering from head colds, and they both used a unique method to restore energy while at the gas stop. "I was fatigued," Butler said. "I knew we were both pretty sick when we hit the cough-syrup bottle instead of the power drinks." "We had some Pedialyte," laughed Wesner. "It rehydrated us, and we were ready to go." Early in the third loop, riders faced a 55-mile-Iong section with whoops and twisting trails through thick brush at 36 mph before getting to check 10. Wesner took a wrong turn a few hundred yards after the check, and Butler regained the lead. "I remember wondering what happened to Craig," Butler said. "[ didn't see him again at any of the resets." Butler's final.point loss of 18 at the finish secured his overall d AA-class victories. Walden's strict c rse-markerwatching stra tegy paid off; he had 19 points, and he took second overall and first in the A 200cc class. Wesn~r sped his way back on course, making up enough time to hold on to third overall and second in the AA class with a score of 20, and Spooner claimed fourth overall and first A U lenging Mathews. On the run to the checkered flag, Stauber sliced inside of several backmarkers that Naval was a ttempting to pass on the outside. Stauber himself made the pass work for second in the Formula 500 class. Race C banded together the V2, V4 and Formula Two-Stroke classes. The race was a three-wave start, with earlier favorites Stauber, Morrow and Mathews all in separate waves and all in separate classes. The start saw Stauber take the lead, followed by Eric Mercer, both from the first wave, and they were soon to be joined by second-wave starters Morrow and Stephen J. Foote. Mercer anq Mathews were racing V4s, and Morrow and Foote were contesting Formula TwoStrokes. The latter pair pushed through traffic in order to catch the overall leaders by the third iap. Morrow rode his RZ350, while Foote was using an exotic RZSOO. -.By the fourth lap, Morrow had displaced Mercer for second on the track and looked intent on reeling in Mathews. On the penultimate lap, Mark Morrow took the lead and never looked back. 1£ he had, he would have seen Foote using the RZSOO to take over third overall, second in class, at the .flag. Race D coupled the Super Vintage class of V5 with V3 as the last race of the day. This time Mark Morrow had the pole po ition from the first wave, by virtue of his ational Championship from the previous season. When the green flag fell, he got the holeshot and steadily pulled away from the rest of the field, thus ending a nearly perfect day of Vintage racing. In the V3 class, one of Morrow's competitors from earlier in the day, Joey aval, on his Suzuki 500 Water Buffalo, took the win in convinc'ing style. eN Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: March 13, 1999 (Round 2 of 22) 44 HIW else: 1. Tim Noyce (Tri); 2. Rixon D. Breckon (Tri); 3. David A. Rutherford roSA). UW elSe: 1. Cary P. Smith (Hon); 2. Da,nicl Kane (}Ion); 3. Wayne Allen (H-D). F-RD: 1. Mark Morrow (Yam); 2. Richard Lucas (Yam); 3. Lynford P. Garland (Yam); 4. Paul Garland (Yam); 5. Alex Deli" (Yam). M/W elSe: 1. L~oss Craig Brcckon (Due); 2. Steven Mahancs (Dud; 3. Wayne Allen (H-D). VINT 1: 1. William Buff Harsh ill (Hon); 2. Rixon D. Breckon (fri); 3. Robert Brooks (Hon). F·500: 1. Mike Mathews (Han); 2. John V. Stauber (Yam); 3. Joey Naval (Suz). V1NT 4: 1. John V. Stauber (Yam); 2. Eric Mercer (Yam); 3. Mark Nadelkov (Yam). VINT 2: 1. Mike Mathews (HCVl); 2. WiJljam Buff Hursh ill (Hon); 3. Robert Brooks (Hon). F-2-STRK: 1. Mark Morrow (Yam); 2. Stephen J. Foote (Yam); 3. Michael Lighton (Yam). VINT 5: 1. Mark Morrow (Yam); 2. Stephen J. Foote (Yam); 3. Dale Burroughs (Kaw). VINT 3: 1. Joey Naval (Suz); 2. Mark Mitchell (BMW); 3. Mark Nadelkov (Yam). District 36 Northern Calnomia Enduro Series Round 2 Butler serves up Wild Boar By Jill Ashworth Patterson CLEAR CREEK, CA, MAR. 14 X250-mounted Brian Butler blasted through 95 ground miles of a thickly brush lined, three-loop course to claim his second consecu tive Wild Boar overall victory at Clear Creek, California. Butler discovered early in the day that the Timekeepers Motorcycle Club had worked hard to design new trails and route the course along terrain they had not used before. "My home-court advantage was reduced," Butler said. "I couldn't count on knowing where the trails would go K next. u Loop one sent 191 entrants up a fire road to the top of Goat Mountain, where a course split waited fQr the A and B classes. Set with a 24-mph speed average, the tight, single-track trail wound its way down a steep hill and followed a dry creak bed covered with loose rocks. It then continued up a narrow, manzanita-infested trail that merged back into the fire road. The C class was spared the gnarly excursion and followed the fire road. The rest of the first loop feat ed some of the tightest trails of the event and concluded at the end of Clear Creek <;:anyon, four checks and 21.6 miles after the start. Faultline Suspension /Red Line Oil/ FMF-sponsored Butler emerged from the brush at the first gas stop with the best score. He was 11 tie-breaker seconds ahead of Team Green/Cycle Proendorsed Craig Wesner; each had dropped seven points. Next, carding a FourCStroke with 21. Wood, who had a cast removed from a still-healing broken hand the week before the event, captured fifth overall and third in the AA class. The Timekeepers also hosted the Wild Piglet Family Enduro the day before the Wild Boar and received copious I?raise from its 145 participants for providing such a fun and enjoyable familyenduro. CII Wild Boar Enduro Clear Creek, California Results: March 14, 1999 (Round 2) O/A: 1. Brian Butler (Kaw); 2 Marty Walden (Yam); 3. Craig Wesner (K.3w); 4. Ty Spooner (Yam); S. Dave Wood (CRE). AA: 1. Brian Butler (Kaw); 2. Craig Wesner, (Kaw); 3. Dave Wood (CRE). A 200: 1. Marty Walden (Yam); 2. Robert Wynn (KTM); 3. Craig Hoffman (KTM); 4. Chris Young (Han); 5. Steve Shoemaker (Yam). A 250: 1. Greg Ruffoni (Kaw); 2. Troy Winslow (KTM); 3. Dave Clemons (Hon); 4. Chris Toman (Hon); 5. Heather Wilson (Kaw). 'A 4-STRK: 1. Ty Spooner (Yam); 2. Mark Maldonado (Yam); 3. Aaron Sykes (Kaw); 4. n.ichard Bishop (Hon); 5. Bryan Fiscalini (Yam). A OPEN: 1. Duke Lambert (Han); 2. Michael Hayes (Hon); 3. Billy Russell (KTM); 4. Michael Behrens (l

• Cover