Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

n eerin g / Ara i /Scolt Goggles/FMF / Tsubaki /H amm erhe ad Graph icsb a ck ed Lafferty sai d , "Th e las t t w o years I' ve won th is event by bea tin g Randy and Matt , both good woods riders. I knew co mi ng here th at if I was go ing to sal vage any of the remaining ,s eason, I was going to have to rid e hard all day. This is always a gr eat even t - no tricks, just an in-your-face end uro. They check yo u in and th en chec k yo u ou t. And when yo u get behind, you just put the hammer down. " ]be tale of the score cards shows that Lafferty, Hawkin s, Sta vish an d Da vis battled it out in three sec tions named by the hosting club, the orsemen. Highway 61, th e Jungl e a nd AA w ere se ctions wh er e com petition was at its heaviest. "Those three sections have become sy nonymou s with the Pau l Bunyan Na tional End uro," said trai l boss Roge r GrilL "Highway 61, The Ju ngle and AA a re our premier trails for establishing a winne r. We ba sicall y run a ll the same trails, we just vary the locations of the proving grounds, This year we've lowered the speed averages on a couple of longer sections to 18 mph (d own fro m 24) to help cut down on D Fs in the B and C classes. We've also moved Highway 61, The Jungle and AA to the front so that by second gas the enduro turns into a timekeeping eve n t instead of a survival run." "Highway 61 is the real pace se tter here," sa id Ha wkins. "It comes at yo u earl y in the da y , and wh o w ins th e enduro is ba sed on ho w w ell yo u d o there. It's real sho rt, six miles long, but it's a wor ko u t. The re's abs olu tely no way to establish any rh ythm when you rid e it. It' s full of sto ps an d turns, and that makes it tou gh to ge t going." Hawkins' an al ysis ca me true wh en he and Davis both ca rded a six in th e Highway 61 section, while Lafferty and Sta vish scored a four and five, respectively . "I wa s just reall y keyed up for the first test," sa id Lafferty. "They ga ve us a couple of easy sections and then it was time to go to wo rk." Stavish, who hails from Northeast Minneapolis, said, "Mike always jumps out of the gate. Originally I' hea rd he h a d a five' in that sec t io n, and that, would ha ve pu t us in a tie. But as it turned out he just made it with a four "minu tes 59-seconds. Rand y and Ty both carded a s ix. Being in the middle of those three riders (with a fiv e) was a great motivator for me going into the Jungle and AA. But latel y I've been having trouble with carpa l tunnel synd rome (Left) Minnesota's Matt Stavish always rides well in the tight woods, so it was no surprise that he was ' In the hunt for the overall throughout the ent ire even t. (Above) Montclair Yamaha's Ty Davis Is ever so close to his second Enduro championsh ip, Davis needs only nine more points , with three rounds remaining. (Left) Rounding out the top five was David Lykke, who moved from seventh to ninth in points after the event. , and my hands start going numb, SO four or five times during a test I'd have to slow down a little so I cou ld shake my hands out and get the feeling back. " Each of the four riders - Lafferty, Stavish, Hawkins and Davi s - carded an id entical tw o in the Jun gle. Hawkins, a six- ti me national e n d u ro champion, Brieflv. .'. are to get 'the job done in Michigan (Augu~t ' 2l!ndl and then concentrateon the Portuguese, Six Days and the Hare and Hound Series for the remeinder of the year,- Presentty'. 'in the ,Ty' Da';'is almost had no bike to ride at the National Hare and Hound Series, Davis is lied ' Minnesota National Enduro, "I sent the bike' for second with ,Destry Abbott. Brian Brown out to the Loretta Lynn' Qualifie r/Enduro in leads the,series, with tWo races r~aining, June and hadn' t seen it again until about two . • . . ' hours before the start." said Davis. "' had the ,Ra ndy Hawkins, Was very pleased with his suspension and the motor shipped back to me' second -overal l finish aboa rd his Yamaha 'in Ca htornta, where'i rebuilt them and shipped YZ400, "We're still riding to win but we're the parts back toa shop, in Illinois. Somehow ' the bike didn't'get to where it'needed to be (to, ge t back to Minnes otal, and another rtder , brought It up To make a long story short, the., first time I actually got to ride the ,bike,was at the start, At the first reset, we worked on dial. ,ing in the jetting and adjusting the suspension setup, ~ ' , Even though the National EndurO'series allows , no throwaways this year for d'eterminirig the, overall champion; Ty Dav is only' needs to ' score nine points. or a 12th.p,l ace finish, to clinch the ,1999 National Enduro Series. With ,three races .to go. Davis said. : My intentions , learn ing more ' and more on what these .fo ur- . strokes can and can't do. Since we're the first to s erious ly try and co ntest the Nat ional. Enduro Series.on a ,VZ400, we'veqotno orie to go to for answers, Heck: we can think up a. -I of questioris, but we' have to figure out the ct answe rs for ours elve s. " Coinciden tally ,' Hawkins has gone back to running 'inner tubes and actually has gone to running a "mallei tire normally found on iasee dirt bikes" "Good" clean contact with the ground is very important ' with these btkes ." added Hawki'ns, ' "Foam, inserts and bigger tires just take away some of thatfeel , With the smallertire, we actually get better traction because we're able to get down ' ' to solid groundquicker." ' , explained, "Tha t section ha s some real rhythm to it. Eve n thou gh it's twice as long as Highway 61, it flowed. " Davis; a nati ve of California and the 1995 National Enduro Champion said, "This tigh t woods rid ing is always hard for me to ad apt to. It always takes me a few sections to figure it out. Some of the trail s are so thick wit h undergrowth and trees that it was like riding in a maze. Ther e's a lot of stuff you don't see and just feel, and those kind of ankle biters make yo u have to rid e on your toes . The Jungle was going real good for me until I came upon a downed rider, and I co uld n' t get around him. I missed the ch eck b y 11 secon d s, and tha t would have put me within one of Mike." Th e third and final section, to ta ke points from all of the riders was the 13mile AA section. This was the last chance for Stav ish, Hawkins and Davis to make up gro und on Lafferty. Both Lafferty and Hawkins set the pace wi th a nine. Ha wkin s' score moved him into a tie with Stavish, wh o scored a 10. Dav is, w ho also ca rded a 10, sa id , "The heat really started to take its toll on me in there . Th is is the first tim e I' ve ridden in Mi n neso ta si nce (raci ng motocross in) Millvi lle, and I forgot how humid it can get. " Davis d ro pped a nother ro ute poin t o n the last check w hen he just missed the final check by seco nds. "Tha t last sectio n was to ugh," sa id Davis. " It came rig ht afte r an 18-milean-hour section a nd w ith the heat and humidity I just cou ld n' t ge t motivated, It didn' t effect my final standings but it was tough to just keep movin g." "I guess the heat was anot her factor for most of the riders," said Stavish . "I d id n ' t notice it mu ch becau se I wa s constantly icing down my wri st s (at the re sets) to h e l p k e ep t h e s w e ll in g down." Lafferty also commented on the heat. "With the 18-mile-an-hour sections bei ng a dded th is year I tho u ght this en duro was going to be less demanding, but wi th the heat it turned into a tough event. "You had to con stantly rep lace liquids every chance you got ." Lafferty added, "Once again they put on a great enduro. It's su ch a cool place to ride. It always turns into a real firstclass enduro." The enduro wa s held primarily in the Paul Bunyan State Forest under a special-use permit issued by the Minnesota Depa rtment of Natural Resources. The trails used were part of a newly formed off-highway vehicle, motorcycle and A1V trail sys tem. eN Paul Bunyan National Enduro Akeley, Minnesota Results: July 25, 1999 (Round 12 of 15) O/A : 1. Mike Lafferty (KTM); 2. Ran dy Ha wk ins (Ya m ); 3. Matt Stavish (Ho n): 4. Ty Da vis (Ya m); 5. Dav id Lykke (Yam); 6. Craig Holasek (Kl1vf ); 7. Tod d Math wi g (KTM); 8. Ron Scharphcrn (KTM); 9. Nola n Kni ght (G-G) ; 10. La rr y Be r gqui st (Yam ); 11. Kyl e Ne lson; 12. je rry Mor gan ; 13. Cha rles Forest; 14. Scott Hoffman; 15. Brett Ha rd y; 16. Scott Bright; 17. Dw ig ht Rudder (Hon); 18. Robert Swi ft; 19. JI.Ssc Blomberg; 20. ' Tom Farri s. A MA IACE R BIS NA TIONA L EN DU RO SE R IES r O I NT ST A ND INGS (Afte r ro u nd 12 of 15): 1. Ty Da vis (296 / 4 win s); 2. Micha el lafferty (217/1); 3. Randy Hawkins (83); 4. Dcstry Abbott (171); 5. Brian Ga rra ha n (26); 6. Fred Andrews ( 06); 7. David Ly kke (103); 8. Ma tt Sta vish (%); 9. Russell Pea rson (94 ); 10. Doug Blackwe ll (91), Upcoming Rounds: Indian River, Michigan - August 22 NewWaverly, Texas - September 26 . '" '" '" ~ 37

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