Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ECEA Championship Enduro Series, Round 1: Sandy Lane Enduro Events Terry Tucker, Mark Marszalek and AI Switzer rounded out the top 10 overall, filling the eighth, ninth and 10th seeds, respectively. Eam took home a first-place trophy in their individual class (A Senior for Tucker, A Veteran for Marszalek and A Open for Switzer). KTM 200 pilot Sean Tompkins overcame a burn at the first check to earn tile High Point B victory, finishing with a respectable ll-point card. Bridesmaids at 12 down were Phil Cassat and Vetclass rider Jim Aiello. Matt Hanes piloted his CR250 to the High Point C prize, dropping 19 on tile day for a three-point margin of victory. Kevin Hess and John Trendier's scores of 22 each were next best in the Novice class. Kathi Cambell had an easy victory in the Women's class, in which five of the six entrants completed the course. Masters-class competitor Farrell Lord had an amazing day in the saddle, winning tile class handily with a 19-point card, a score that would have been competitive CN in most B classes. Sandy Lane Enduro Green Bank, New Jersey Results: March 14, 1999 (Round 1) AA: 1. Jack Lafferty Jr. (Suz); 2. Kevin Bennett (Hon); 3. Bill Atkinson (KTM); 4. Michael Moore (Yam); (Left) Jack Lafferty Jr. scored the overall win at the Sandy Lane Enduro in Green Bank, New Jersey. (Above) Mike Moore ran in the top five all day, posting fifth place at the end of the long event. . By Mark Uth GREEN BANK, NJ, MAR. 14 ighHime ECEA enduro champ Jack Lafferty Jr. finally got the monkey off his back, earning his first ECEA overall victory in some three years. In his first contest aboard a new Bromley Suzuki-sponsored RM250, Lafferty took the series opener by posting a 2:14 card to beat rivals Kevin Bennett and Bill' Atkinson by 10 and 21 seconds, respectively. All three were locked in a tight battle all day; however, the Cycra/Enduro Engineering/Motion Pro! IMS-sponsored Lafferty managed his clock the best to collect his first Sandy Lane Wagon Wheel trophy since 1982. '''The RM makes good power, and I only stalled once all day," said Lafferty. "It does not tire me out like the fourstroke did. I was more than ready to keep hammering even at the end of the day." The course included seven timed sections in which riders had the potential to drop points. Each section was sandwiched by checks, with several of the check-outs b.eing emergency checks. It was in these sections that the race was decided. Terrainwise, the trail used for the course was chock full of whoops and holes, as much of it has been used for other ~ents in the recent past. The morning's second points taker - a piece that included considerably fresh, smooth trail - was perhaps the club's showcase section of the day. However, the state forest service decided to do a controlled burn through those woods the day before the event, which reduced nearly all the underbrush and low E ground cover to ashes while leaving numerous sm.oking stumps and logs in its wake. This wreaked havoc on the club's event, as there was no longer any impediment to riders cutting corners or just blazing a beeline straight through the woods. Earlier rows could be seen hundreds of yards ahead through the. blackened landscape, whicll resulted in rampant course cutting. Unfortunately, this proved to be a recurring problem in several of the day's sections. "I thought that the speed averages could have been a little higher to take more points," said Lafferty, who then added, regarding the course, "The burnt section was awesome, though. I was hard on the gas the whole way through it and just barely managed a zero." The club had laid out a short run of 65 ground miles, evenly split between the morning and afternoon loops. A remote midday refueling stop separated. the two and provided a 25-minute break. There were four fast, potential points-taking sections run in the morning loop, each sandwiched by a secret check-in and check-out. Top riders zeroed three of four checks. In the fourth, the last section before gas, racers competing for the overall were clipped for a point. In many places, the club used fresh, alternative ·trail that paralleled and crisscrossed older, whoopedout trail sections. The multiple-line trail that this created was hard to follow at times in more-sparsely-arrowed sections. Occasionally, riders were forced to slow up in order to refind arrOWS mar.king the proper trail. 1n the sections that were "zeroable" by top riders, extreme diligence in updating odometer mileage was required. Although posted course mileage was consistently accurate, riders were often challenged by discrepancies with posted turn mileage near the ends of various sections. Many who failed to correct their odometers were burned at subsequent meck-outs. The afternoon loop began with two lengthy sections run through the pine forests of the west plains. Amazingly, the top three contenders managed to zero each of these sections run at 18 mph. the day's final test began with a start control. Almost solely a result of the section's heady 30-mph speed average, there were universal points lost at the known check. With that, Lafferty topped the field of 350 riders to eam tile long-overdue victory. ''I'm planning on racing the entire (ECEA) enduro series, filling in open weekends with as many (ECEA) hare scrambles as possible," Lafferty explained afterward. "I want to try to build on' this good start and keep things going throughout the season." Fairway Honda/WER/SRC/Maurtco Power Coa.t-sponsored Kevin Bennett did keep him honest, finishing second overall and first AA, a mere 10 seconds off the pace at 2:24. Matto Cycle rider Bill Atkinson tallied the only other twopoint score (2:35), filling out the podium on the day. Mike Moore took fourthoverall honors, riding his YZ250 to a 4:40 finish. KX250-mounted Marc Grossman led a trio of five-point scores that filled the fifth-, sixth- and seventh-overall positions. Grossman's lOS e-points were tops among the three, besting Frank Vanaman's 140 and Bob Bennett's 153, to earn him High Point A honors. 5. Prank Vannmnn (KTM). A 125: 1. Michncl S'igety (Suz); 2. Greg DOl vies (Yam); 3. Kerry Clark (Hus); 4. M. Dean Spencer (yam); 5. Daniel Stoppi Jr. (Yam). A 200: 1. Ed Hamilton (Kaw); 2. Robert Mohn (Kaw); 3. Todd Quinn (KTM); 4. Eric J. Corbin (Kaw); 5. Paul Bitting (Kaw). A 250: 1. Marc Grossman (Kaw); 2. Dan Sharpless (Yam); 3. Michael Bradway (Yam); 4. Mark Hummel (Hus); 5. Brian Russell (Hon). A OPEN: 1. AI Switzer (KTM); 2. Dave Groemm CKTM); 3. Tom FolkJ (Mai); 4. Kevin Kuezner (KTM); 5. Ken Long (Hbg). A 4·STRK: 1. Jeffrey Botsford (Yam); 2. Lewis]. Smith (Hon); 3. Troy Coopersmith (Han); 4. Mark Perry (Han); 5. Darren .Russell (Han). A ~T: 1. Mark Marszalek (Yam); 2. John Walter (Kaw); 3. MJchael Dolccer (Yam); 4. Richard Moyer (ATK); S. Jeff Makela. A SR, 1. Twy Tuck"" (Kaw); 2. Mark Uth (KTM); 3. Oiliord Tenney (KTM); 4. Wayne Fontanazza (Yam); 5. Stewart Crouch Jr. (Kaw). A S/SR: 1. Scott Wolfersberger (Yam); 2. Jack Lafferty Sr. (KTM); 3. Richard Tompkins (KTM); 4. George Oickncr (Hus); 5. Rocco Spano (Yam). . B 125: 1. Jeff Johns; 2. Edward Loper (Han); 3. Jim Rink. (Hus); 4. Steve Brown (Kaw); 5. Frank Lupperger (Yam). B 200: 1. Sean Tompkins (KTM); 2. George Potts (Kaw); 3. Brian Corde.n (KTM); 4. Nic Sotiropoulos (KTM); S. Mack Delong (Kaw). B 250: 1. Phil Casset (Yam); 2. Dennis Lynch O

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