Events
•
co u rse . Pea rce ha d to work for th e wi n th is
time, however .
Don Ca ner pu lled a mo nster holcsh or on his
Husky 610 in the SuperlT Premier ra\" to lead
A.J. Herrera, Pearce a nd , from the third ro w,
Elliott Iv erso n thro ugh the esses. Donnie
Howa rd , Anto nio Nunez and Mark Cernicky
quickly joined the battle. Ca net motored a way
out fro nt as Pearce worked around Here rra in
the csses for second, taking Ca ne t in the lefthand bowl com er in the dirt sectio n to lead on
lap two . Ccrmcky followed Nunez and Herrera.
losing time when Nunez we nt down un hurt in
the fast pavement right-hander . Cemicky soo n
rejoi n ed Her rera , trying to pass thr ou gh th e
sandbox co r ner a t the base of the s ta ircase
uph ill. but he dropped the bike. lettin g Herr era
pull away. Ca ne t was then d ropped to third.
"Lap four or five, Don (Howar d ) got by me."
Ca ne t sai d . "I didn' t know he was so close."
Howard then c10SL--d on Pearce as the white
flag ca me out, s ha do wi ng the lea d er on th e
"ste alth" Hond a CR250. How ard tried to make a
pass a fter the jum p at the top of the staircase as
Pear ce relaxed for a mom ent.
"He was closer than 1 thought, " Pear ce sa id .
" I looked ove r a nd he w as right n ext to m e
entering the final comer before the chican e."
Pearce 's Hon d a-b a cked CR500 had more
than enough to keep the lead , pulling out thre..
or four bike len gth s over Howa rd at the checkered flag. Ca net pulled up in third . well ah ead of
Herr era, Ce mic ky and Brok McAllister.
In oth er action, Kay Vet ter gra bbed the lead
in Middleweight Su permo ta rd bu t was th en
d rop pe d qu ick ly to th ird b y Ce r nic ky and
Howard th rou gh th e pav em ent esses. Cernic ky
contin ued at the fron t through the seco nd lap .
a nd the n Howard slipped past at the tra nsition
from pavem ent to d irt . Vet ter followed . third in
a qua rte t of CR250 Hond as, with Brok McAlister hot on his heels. McAllister lost d rive in the
sandbox be fo r e t he stai rcase, allowing Ed
Stovin past tem porarily for fourth. McAlli ster
quickly gathered it back up to pass Stov in a nd
then set out after Vetter, who was now several
secon ds ahead.
Howard was setting a fast p ace up fro nt ;
wit h Cemicky trying hard to keep up with the
leader, now several secon ds ahead. Both had a
fair lead ove r Vetter, who now had McAllister
back on his tail. McAllister applied the pressure
through the d irt sect ion, an d Vetter took a spill
in the sandbox corne r th at slowed McAllister.
Stov in also took adva ntage, pu lling in to take
fou rt h. Bob Cobb pulled up as Vetter got going
aga in. but Cobb's Shell Racing 1T5OO lacked the
suspensio n to hand le the staircase and jump as
we B as the more-modern bikes. Vetter held on
for fifth . Cobb soo n d ro pped ou t. pushin g his
bike across the line with a pair of self-destructed
shoc ks . Now it was How ard 's tum to pu ll off
th e track wi th a flat rear tire with three laps to
go , ha nd in g th e w in to Ce rn icky, wh o w as
trailed by McAlliste r. Stov in, Velter and Eibach's
Jason Camp in fifth.
Results
sm PREM : 1. Rick Pearce (Ho n); 2. Don
H ow ard (H o n); 3.
Don c:a net (B us ); 4. A.J. Hl.'!Tt'ra (AT K); 5. Mark Ce micky (Yam );
.
6. Bml. McA lli, t,-.. (KTM); 7. fKad Daw son (Rtx); 8. Elliott IV('N.Jn
(W· R); 9 . Kirk Feyt.-'rabt-nd (H us); 10. DeW ayne Jo,," (Hon ).
S /TT M /W ; I. Moirk Cemicky (Ya m ); 2. Bro k McA Ii" t t"r
(H onl; 3. Ed Sto vi n (Ya m); 4. Kay Vetter (H o n); 5. Jason Ca m p
(Hunl.
SPTSMN ; I. Ed SlOvin (Hon); 3. Kirk
Ft-yerabenJ (Hon).
Wey fast at Red Bud
By Larry Witmer
64
BUCHANAN, Ml, JUNE 6
Nick Wey rod e in to Red Bud and p roceeded to
steamro Jl the competition in th e 125cc a nd 250cc
Expert Division s on his s p litFire /Pro Circu it·
backed Kawasa kis. California's Tyler Evans was
presen t for so me tra ck time, but he was no
mat ch for th e speedy Wey.
We y rip p ed th e hol eshot in the ope n in g
125cc Expe rt ra ce. wit h Darby Fo wler. Tyl er
Evans and Brad Jerominski on Wey' s tail . Wey
immediately checked out on the 25-rider field .
Evan s passed Fowler in the laRocco Leap corner with an insid e line going toward the Leap .
Things went really bad for Evan s on the seco nd lap wh en th e RM p ilot thr ew his mount
away going off the big ski jum p. wad ding it up .
Eva ns was u p a nd ok ay, but th e bike wou ld
net..>d much rep air to be read y to ride in the sec·
ond mot o. Wey con tinued to set a pace that carried him to a huge win, with Jerominski taking
second half a lap lat er . Abbo lt wa s th ird , with
Tech Care's Watson coming in a close fourth .
The seco nd moto saw Evans ga te with pe r·
fect timing for a two-b ike:;len th holc
'Shot. but
Wey tric the outside. pinning 1
>d
nhmd tr;lcking the KX sidewa , This wa s th e sho wdownev eryone wanted to see, but Wey saw an ope n-
ing a nd ri p ped by Eva ns on the inside going
toward la Rocco l.eap .
Evans tri ed to ma tch the Spli tFire / Pro Cireuit-sponsored Wey. but to no avail. Wey again
put on a show. though not with heel-dickers or
flashy stuff. He put his head down an d charged,
lay ing down the fas t la p times of the da y la p
after lap. outdistancing the field by al most a fuJI
lap when the checkers fell. Evans came in a very
distant se co nd . Je ro minski was third , a nd
Abbo tt fourth.
"It was fu n comi ng here today," said Wey.
"It beats trainin g at home, and I can get dialed
for the upcomi ng Na tional. That new jump that
Tim pu t in is great for air tim e,"
Result s
A UTO (4-8 ): 1. Zachary Bessler (Yam); 2. Dy llun Yaw (Yam) ;
y (Kaw) ; 2. M ike A ldrich (Ho n l, 3. Britd
Jeromin.o;ki (Kaw); 4. JLon-my Hughson
w).
125 8 : I. Da nny Beckete (Suz); 2. Jo n Logan (Yam); 3. Ju d d
Ba,;lad i (Kaw );.t . Zac k.ary Bn.-boenlt'af (H us ); 5. Kevi n Milcht.-'l l (B us ).
3. Nick McCulluch
Lafferty sweet at
Cherry Pit enduro
By Kern Burden
IRAVERSECITY. Ml, MAY23
. Mike La ffer ty took a w e ek end off fro m t he
Nation al Enduro Circu it to practice in the no rthern Michigan woods, an d the defend ing Na tion·
a l Cha mpi on put his tim e to good use. He left
th e rest of th e Dist rict 14 end u ro riders in his
wa ke while wi nning th e season opene r on his
factory-backed KTM.
Lafferty's sco re of 38 top ped Alan Ra nd t' s
r
sco re by seven poi nts to take the overa ll ".. in .
Ron Scha rp hom dropped 47 to grab th ird . a head
of Da ve Lipovsky. who carded a 53 for fourth.
Co rey Ca lkins jum pe d up out of the 250ec A
class to ro und out the top five and complete the
KTM swee p with a score of 57,
Long sections and heavy rains took their toll
as scores inflated an d rid ers were sprea d far out
throu gh the forest. Lafferty, riding on minute 26.
was the first rid er to finish the course. Randt , on
minute 27, was the second to finish , as the Band
C rid ers st rugg led wi th the de nse fores t a nd
rapidly deterior atin g cond itions toward the end
of the race.
Warren Hills and the Twin Bay Trail Riders
wa n ted to celebra te their 20th ann ive rsary by
hav in g a n old-fas h ioned , p ress-on -r egard less
endu ro, and with the course they laid out, they
accomplished just that . Mean d ering thro ug h the
Boardman River Vall ey, th e course used ma ny
m il es of vir gin terrain whil e s taying off the
es ta blis hed trail as mu ch as possi ble. As key
time ap proached , the clouds were beginning to
~a ther, but most rid ers were enco uragL'CI by this,
r
hoping to k~ the tempe: a turc and dust down
a nd the fun factor up. Thefu~Ll2"P left the traitio na l ~ ta g i ng a rea at Ran ch ud olph an d
head ed north into the Pere Marquette State For-
Nick Wey
celebrates his
125cc Expert win
at Red Bud Track
and Trai l in
Buchanan,
Michigan, Wey
also won the
250cc Expert
class.
~
est. The ride to check one was unevent ful, with
all the con tenders zeroing it. Th e rea l raci ng
started at this poi nt - an d so did the ra in . After
. starting softly, the rain turned into a ste ady . cold
downpour that lasted the rest of the day. O n the
way to check two, Lafferty took a lead he would
not re linqu ish bu t would s tea d ily ' b uild o n
throughout the d ay. Randt and Scharphom both
stayed wit hin ha iling d istance of the lead er but
were unable to d ose the ga p .
The first gas stop of the day gave the riders a
combined lO-mile reset to let every body hav e a
break as well as fuel up to prepare to taekle the
seco nd sect ion. This section woul d prove to be
like the first, bot h in distan ce and terrain, a nd ,
like the first section, it wo uld see Lafferty com e
ou t on top. Randt and Scharphom again kept it
close en ough to be int eresting but could not put
a den t in the arm or of the Nati onal Champion.
Lipovsky beg an to lose his battl e to stay with the
lead ers as rain a nd s lic k co ndi t io ns slo we d
everyone. Ano ther res et in the middle of thi s
section put all contenders on time but left som e
B and C riders wan ting more time. Logs. branches an d eve n small sticks - most with no ba rk on
th em a nd we t fro m th e rain - be gan to ya n k
down the unwary in every logged -off sectio n.
The ride to the seco nd gas stop sa w the rain
in ten sify. With the ground ge tting slicker and
cond itions get ting do wnright m iserabl e, ma ny
racers called it a day at th is point. At the seco nd
gas, it also became apparent that unl ess a major
catastrophe befeB Laffe rty. everyone else was
racing for seco nd place.
Another ]l}-mile combined reset put most riders back on time at the second gas . It also afford·
ed them time to change to some dry gloves and in
ma ny cases gra b a jaeket for the last section. This
section proved to be the tou ghest of the day by
far. It induded 2B m iles of face-sl.'pping. greasy.
snotty, Jog-hopping, tig ht single-track run in a
steady downpour. More than 50 perce nt of the C
class houred ou t in the SL"Ction tha t was referr ed
to as "Warren' s Revenge:' Those who surviv ed
th e ordea l di d we ll in th e ir class s ta nd ings
thro ug hout the Band C ranks . Lafferty cruised to
the ove rall ag a in, building on his lead . Randt,
d raw ing o n h is ISDE ex perie nce, ou tlas te d
Scha rphom to take seco nd and AA High Point.
Lipovsky slu gged through to take fourth owrall.
with Calkins grabbing fifth and A High Point.
All the finishers were relieved to ge t out of
the rain a nd find somet hing dry to put on after
dropping their scorecards off at the ranch. Scoring we nt off withou t a hitch. and the District 14
racers began making pla ns to head to.M~rquelte
for round twu of the series .
Results
G RAN D CHAMP: Mi ke L.d ferty (KTMI.
AA 0 / A: Alan Rand t (KIM).
A 0 / A: Corev Ca lkiru;.(KTM) .
B 0 / A: Ricru;rd Bello (KTM).
C O / A: Mik e Whit t' (Hon).
AA : 1. Ron Scha rp ho rn ( K'rM); 2. David lipovo;ky Jr. (~ );
3. Nei l Scharp hom [r. UCTM I; ol. Rob Howery (KTMI; 5. Todd
weaver (KTMl.
A 200 : 1. Aa ron W'--gn~'r (Ya m ); 2. J.1'iOn Rot.·rig (KTM); 3.
Bria n Southworth (KTM); 4 . Geu ry;t' Kelly (KTM) ; 5. Rug,- r Stl'Vcm;
(KTM) .
m
A 250: 1. Scott Riu d a v (Ho n); 2. Rich.ud Hurk-,;l. (KTM ); 3.
LeoJ\ilrd Ka'n (KTM ); 4. Th om as lo nck het' re (KTM l; 5. SleoIe Wi!·
k")'( KTM ).
A OPEN ; 1. Ru ssd l Norm.l n ( KT M ); 2. Mic ha e l Fril c he
(KTM) ; 3. Dua ne l..l'Inoint' (KTMl ; 4. Brett McCoy (tIon); 5. David
Va ndt.-'Ca r (KTMl.
A VET: 1. Gl-"llrgl" K.1sza 1G-G); 2. Brian Marr (Yam ); 3. John
Love (Yaml ; 4. Robert Coo k Jr. (KTM) ; 5 . Stt'llni.o; I'n.x:hnow (KThn.
A SR: t. Leo Schwab (KTM); 2. SIt'l 'h..n Bacon (Yam); 3 . TI,.'rT)'
Wilton (KTM); 4. John Rydqui..t (Ya m); 5. Kim Molhnke (Ka w ).
.
A 4-STRK: 1. Justin Co ny erll (H o n); 2. IOI\o1Ih.tn Funkhow;t.-'T
(Ho n); 3. ' .R. G ine.. (Ya m); 4. Dav e Hut chinson (Ya m); 5. A.Jron
Barth rs (KTM); S.J Frn.-m.m(KT'M).
t"ff
B VET: 1. Rictwrd Spirei' (J(,)w ); 2. RicNrd uughlin (laM);
3. Tom Glover u Caw); .t. Brett Ban-! (KTM).
8SR: 1. ~II Westvft"r
