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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128084
Events
By J ill As hwort h Patterson
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22
FOUTS SPRINGS, CA, xov. 14
____. uzu ki's RM25G-mou nted Tim J.
Stowe railed wi thout deviation
_ it....4J' over one of the tou ghest courses of the season to claim the overall victory at the WFO Endu ro, the final round
of Distri ct 36's No r the rn California
Enduro Series. The event was hel d a t
Fou ts Sp rings and was host ed by the
Valley Climbers Motorcycle Club .
" It w as g rea t to rid e a co urse that
was set up by someone who knew exactly what to thr ow at us," said Woodla nd
Cycle's Sproc ket Specia lis t/ Motion
Pro /FMF-sponsor ed Stow e.
Th e tw o -loo p , 82.3-g ro u nd- m ile
course wa s laid out by one of the d istric t' s lead in g enduro rid ers, VCMC's
Matt Wall ace . The first loop went 44.1
ground miles to the gas stop, and loop
two was a no the r 38.2 ground miles to
the finish .
From the start, a lon g climb up Potato Hill took rid ers to the first check, the
check-in for the first test. Set at 26 mph,
the 7 miles of win d ing , tight single-track
was the first chall en ge of the race.
Bria n But ler exited the tes t fastes t,
wit h a sco re of 1.36. Stowe's 1.42 was
seco nd, a nd Marty Wa ld en was nex t
wi th 1.46. The oth~r riders all dropped
two or more poi nts .
O n th e way to check three, riders
were confronted wi th some more tigh t
and tough trails, set at 24 mph , and on ly
thr ee riders we re able to zero the check:
Stowe, Jason Howe and Greg Ruffon i.
The next su rprise came at check four,
which was placed right at a "possi ble."
Several riders burn ed the check, including Moose / Alpin es ta rs / Cycle Gear /
Faultline Suspension-su ppo rted Butler.
"Some clubs don 't penalize people for
riding hot," Wallace said. " It [the check!
was set at the most obvious location."
The test that ensu ed was another portion of the course that tested riders' skills.
Stow e and How e were the only tw o to
drop just one more point at check five.
A qu ick comparison of sco res a t the
gas stop showed Stowe, whose card tallied 2.74, well in the lead. Zoom Cy cle's
Ruffon i, who had 4.43, was in second,
and Woodland Cycle/ Tecate-spo nsored
Wald en was third with 4.47.
Scores in the fives we re showing on
District 36 Northern California Enduro Ser-ies, Final Round
the cards of eight ot hers, including Dave
Wood, the 1997 and 1998 series champion, who had a 5.14. Butler, who rode the
test sec tio n on a flat, dropped farther
back with a score of 7.61.
After the gas, there was a reset, and
then another well- placed check stunned
racers again. Abou t two-th ird s of th e
event's entran ts burned check six, which
was at the crest of a lon g uphill, where
riders we re really on the gas.
"After we burned the check, 'Marco'
[Marc DeMarco] and I pulled over and
we re moaning at ourselves for w hy we
di d it," Stowe said . "The clock was just
ticking away w hen we realized we were
late going into ano ther test."
"By the time we were able to see the
chec k," Wood sai d, "it was sim ply too
late to keep from burning it."
Fau ltline Sus pension / Mo tion Pro f
Sm it h /Pro G rip-backed Russ Pe re ira
was th e only lea ding rid er to zero th e
check and not log a burn all day.
Check seven was the end of another
test , and Fox/ E Line / Factory Co nnectio n-supported Woo d and Butler were
the only ones to zero it, only dropping a
few tie-breaker seconds.
After an observation check, the las t
and toughest test of the day awaited.
Riders had to draw on any reserve energy they could muster to get through the
brutally tight, less-than-handlebar-wide
tree section before check nine.
"T he woods section was so intense
a nd r ea ll y tight - it was the best!"
Pereira said . "So tight, I even had to ge t
off and push my bike a couple of times."
"There was a bo ttleneck in the tight,
dead forest," Walde n said. "About eight
bikes we re lined up, and the riders were
just looking at someone who was hung
up on a log . No o ne was going anywhere."
Butler bulleted out of the test with an
amazing score of jus t two poi nts .
"I kn ew I rea lly had to rid e hard to
make up for the flat and my two burns,"
Butler sa id. " It was the kind of sec tion
where we wis hed we had a gea r lower
than first"
Stow e emerged from the test with a
th ree, and th e o the rs foll o w ed with
fours and fives.
Check 10 and the finish line were jus t
a few miles later, and riders sho uted out
va rious praises for the great cou rse and
(Above) TIm J . Stowe (6B) opened it wide
and claimed the overall victory at the WFO
Enduro, the 10th and final round of the
Northern California Enduro Series, held in
Fouts Springs.
(Right) MartyWalden (11) comes up the
last trail to the final check on his way to
second overall, first A 200 rider.
event as the check crew ma rked their
score cards.
Charles Koshi ol, an A Su pe r Senio r
who came all the way fro m Mi nnesota
to ride a Cal ifornig even t, pulled th e
biggest whee ly as he C
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