Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

E\'cnts By Mark Uth CROSS FORKS, PA,JULY25 0u rn eyman ECEA com petitor Bill Atkinson (KTM) eked ou t his firsteve r ECEA end uro overall victo ry and in the process va ulted into the series championship points lead. At round 11 the Rattlesnake Enduro - Atkinson and eigh t-time series champion jack Lafferty Jr . led th e fiel d, kn otted at 25 poin ts dow n a piece. Howeve r, A tkinson 's emergency-poin t tally of 142 seconds yielded a slim 14-second advantage over Lafferty's 156 to earn him top ho nors . The Matto Cycle /KTM facto ry / MSR /Elf Lub ricants /Scott USA f End uro Engineering / Sprocket Specialis ts/ FM F/ Pir ie Co m pos i tes/ Du n lopad/Ma urtco Powder Coa t-sponsored rider was plenty stoked abou t his pair of "fi rs t-evers ." Atkinson attribu ted his victory to a fast start. "I think that I won it in the first section of the day, right out of the start," Atkinson said , "I mana ged a two at the (emergency) check-out after the grass track - the on ly two carded in tha t sec tion all day, both going out and coming back. jack got the poin t back la ter in th e da y (a t check seven), bu tit wasn 't an emergency check, so I had the tie-breaker advantage." Regarding his day in the saddle, the KTM rider sa id that it was busi ness as usual. "I rode like I always do ," he said, "not taking any undue chan ces. I guess everything just fin ally turned my way . My Matte Cycle-tuned KTM 250 is wo rking grea t. The motor is bone-stock except for an FMF silencer. Suspension (spri ngs and valving) is stock, too. Bud (Matte) does a great job of suspension tuning with little more than oil and preload changes:' The race was run from the Quiet Oaks campgroun d in Cross Forks, Pennsylvania, a fine site overlooking a valley with a 15-mile grass-tra ck section. Temperatures were warm but not oppressive, perhaps topping ou t in the high 80s on Su nday afternoon. However, near-drought conditions and the complete lack of recent rain mad e for an extremely dry an d dusty trail. Ha rd -packed eart h was quickly ground into a fine silt the consistency of taIcump owder , mak in g for su rprisi ng ly slick cond itions in some sections. Ov erall , it was grea t terra in for an enduro contest. Run predominantly in the Sproul State Forest (by special permission), trail cond itions were mildly rocky - mostly loose slate and shale - with plenty of elevation changes. Mu ch of the cou rse was threaded through stands of second-grow th so ftwoods ; trees s p ro u te d up a mo ng numerous steep, sharp hills left over from previous strip-mining operations. The Brand ywin e Enduro Riders had laid ou t a th ree-loop course d ivided by two rem ote gas s to ps . The majority of the race was run some IS miles from the campground in a nea rby state ATV area , excluding a sho rt sec tion roughly split bet w een rolli ng grass track an d tight J) 32 ECEA Enduro Series, Round 11 woods trail laid ou t on land adjacent to the campground. It was here tha t Atkinso n ma d e h is mark, card in g the only two-p oin t sc ore through the ~ .2- mi le section, run at 24 mph. Afte r a len gt hy rid e over mostl y di rt track connector s, riders arrived at.the state forest ground on w hic h mo st of th e even t was to be held . Here, there we re four special tests: two sho rt, in the 3- to 4-mile ran ge, and tw o longer, at six or eig h t miles, each sandw iched by a chec k-in / check-out. The first short section was run jus t prior to the gas available and wa s perhaps the most fun all day. Fast trail ru n in open woodlands wi th plen ty of uph ill/ downhill acti on kept rid ers on the ga s and grinning. The latter three section s fell into the middle loop and provid ed more techni ca l cha lle nges, in th e fo r m of tricky hillcli mbs and mildly tig h t tra il hewn into stands of mountain pine and heml ock. There were in term itte n t rock pil es a nd pl enty of ac u te swi tchbacks s tu dded w it h roots and lo gs. Suzu ki rid er jack Lafferty Jr. set the benchma rk thr ou gh th ese sections, go ing 3, 4, 4, 8 for a total of 19 points lost throu gh the sec tion. Lafferty's fou r at check number seven was unmatched b y a ny o t he r rid er. Atkinson was next best with a 20 tally th rough the series of test s, while Hu sqvarna rider Mark Humm el dropped 21. Yama ha 400 rider Aaron Osborn was setting a bli stering pace early on, postin g th rees in the first two sho rt sections, the only rider to do so a t check n umber five . Unfo rtuna te ly, Osbo rn faded in the lengthier sections to fall sign ificantly off the pace. After another 3D-minute br eak at the second gas stop, riders made the return trek back to the campground bef ore rerunning the campground / grass track backwa rd coming in to the known con trol. Lafferty still cou ld ha ve won it had he managed to shave a point at the known control; however, that was not to be o n this day . Ins tead , Atkinson matched Lafferty's three at the known, earning h im the overall victory, each rider at 25 points down. Lafferty managed second-overall honors, scan t seconds beh in d Atkinson, while Hummel rou nded ou t the podium wit h a 27-poi nt score. Th e Husky rid er' s th ird -p lace showing also earn ed him the High Point A trophy for the day. By this a u thor's un o ff ici al tally , Atkinson now leads the series by a single po int over Laffert y (not includ ing th ro w -a ways). A tkinson pointed ou t that it was the firs t time he 'd ever led the series and had nothing but accolades for the spo nso ring club . "BER d id a great job - tod ay's course was mu ch im p ro ved over last yea r's ru n." he said . Reg a rd in g h is new s tatus in the championship points quest, Atkinson exp lained his strategy . "Consistencv did it (earned the number-three plate) for me last year, and thu s far, this year, too," he said. "I made Bill Atkinson (20A) too k his first-ever ECEA endu ro overall win at the Rattlesn ake Enduro in Cros s Forks , Pennsylvania, and with it the series championsh ip points lead. -------------------------------~~ up m y mind to win it (this year) - I' m not shooting for second place:' Craig Shenigo claimed fourth-overall honors aboard his B&B KTM with a 28 card , while a qu art et of 29-poi nt sco res filled the fifth- through eigh th-overall slots . Tops among this group was YZ250 pilot jamie Wright, whose 29/ 165 bagged him the first-place trophy in the A 250 class and High Point A runner-up status. AA rider jeff Kirchner's six th overall (29/176) was enough to inch him int o third place in the series points standings. KX250 rider Dave Faery came in a couple of ticks behind Kirchner for seventh overall, while reluctant Honda pilot Steve jamison finished eighth overall, claiming High Point B honors in th e process. Ka wasa ki jockey Ma rc Grossman and Yama ha honcho Bill Gil bert filled the ninth- and lflth-overall slots, respectively, each dropping 30 on the day. Kawasaki rider Fran k Quinn secured the Hig h Poin t C pri ze on the merit of a 40-p oint ca rd, tra iled by ja mes Rebe r (44) and Bill Gil more (46). KTM riders Jack Mitchell (53) and [en Eyrich (93) took home first-place trop hi es in th e Masters and Women's classes, resp eceN tively. RattleSnake Enduro Cross Forks, Pennsylvania Results: July 25, 1999 (Round 11) O/A: Bill Atkinson (laM). H-PT A: Mark Hummel (Hu s). H-PT B: Steve jamiso n (Hen). H-PT C Frank Quinn (Kaw). AA : 1. Bill Atki nso n (KTM ); 2. Ja ck La ffe r ty Jr . (Suz); 3. Craig Shenigo (KTM); 4. Jeff Kirch ner (Kaw): 5. Mike McHal e (KTM). A 125: 1. Daniel Nicoloff (KTM); 2. M. Dean Spe ncer (Yam); 3. Gregory Davies (Yam); 4. Gerry Kitts. ITM); 5. James V. Difonzo (Ha n). A 200 : 1. Eric J. Co rbin IKa w): 2. Ro bert Mohn (Ka w): 3. Ed Hamilton (Kaw); 4. Paw Bitting (luw); 5. Dave Mea ling:(K"fMl. A 250 : 1. Mark H umm el (H us ): 2. Ja mie Wr igh t I (Yam); 3. Da ve Faery (Kaw): 4. Bill Gilbert (Yam); 5. Bo b Solomo n (KTM I. ~ A O PEN : 1. Tod d Lockar d (KTM); 2. Steve Guers (KTM); 3. Marty G ra ve r (KT M); 4. Dea n R. S pe nc er (KTMl; 5. Georg e Sigler (KTM). A 4-STRK: 1. Mar c Gr ossman (Ka w ): 2. Aa ron Osburn (Yam); 3. Stacey Cl ark (Yam); 4. JOt' Walla ce (H an); 5. Jeff Botsford (Yam) . A V ET: 1. David Sa nti (Ya m); 2. Steve Are tz (Hon); 3. Jim McCommon IYam): 4. Brian Wa rd (KTM); 5. Timot hy Kohl (Suz) . A SR: 1. John Farrar (Y. m); 2. Cliff Tenn ey (KTM); 1 3. Je rry Ly nn (Ya m); 4 . Mar k Uth ( KT M); 5. Da ve Barlow (KTM). A S/SR : 1. Scott w olf ersberger (Ya m); 2. He nr y Stan kwiewicz (KT M); 3. Iac k Laff ert v Sr. (KT M); 4. Thoma s Him es; 5. Tom PhilliP:' (J

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