Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128093
AMAlFMF National Enduro Championship Series Round 1: Desert Mountain Enduro Picking up wheN he left off, defending AMAIFMF National Enduro Champion Mike Lafferty rode to the win at the 2001 season-opening event, which was marred by resultstallying problems and inaccurate check clocks. By MATT FREEMAN PHOTOS BY MARK KARIYA ~CKENBaRG,AZ,FEB.11 CXJ'i"( he people who were in shape U and liked the gnarly stuff really excelled today," said Gas-Gas' Nathan Knight at the conclusion of the Arizona Trail Riders' Desert Mountain Enduro. 32 FEBRUARY 28,2001 • cue I Traditionally, after the Wickenburg National Enduro, these words would hold true. What Knight didn't know at the time, however, was that due to a poorly marked turn and a checkpoint that was off, the event ended prematurely - at least on paper. Despite the shorter-than-planned enduro, three-time Enduro Champion Mike Lafferty still found a way to put n __ s e his KTM ahead of the approximately 300 other competitors, and he would have won the enduro whether or not it had ended at check 10 or at check 13, where the Wickenburg National was supposed to have concluded. "I had a pretty flawless day: Lafferty said while waiting for results to be posted. "Things went pretty well. Right before the end I crashed pretty hard and got some cactus in me. Regardless of whatever happens with that check I should still be in the hunt." The route sheet for this year's first AMA/FMF National Enduro consisted of 124 cactus-filled miles, which equaled 85 actual ground miles. The Arizona Trail Riders planned to have 13 checks on the AA/ A loop that would test the abilities of even the best riders, but when the first 19 rows missed a turn and failed to reach check II, race organizers decided that scores would only count up to the 10th checkpoint. The problem, however, was that all the gnarly terrain that was waiting to take points from the AA riders was after check 11. Unaware of exactly what was going on, riders still completed the entire route, hanging it out as usual, only to find out that the last three miles counted for nothing. To make matters worse for the organizers and riders, the clocks at every check were set incorrectly; they were all exactly one minute off of key time (on the late side). Riders entering a check on time were instead marked late, while riders entering a check a minute early were instead marked on time. Sounds easy enough to adjust, right? Not exactly. "We ended up not adjusting the time because according to the AMA rules you can throw out checks, but you can't change the time: said an apologetic Don Hood, front man for the Arizona Trail Riders. Lafferty's score of 13 (through check 10) really should have been a three, but due to the time problem it was left at that. Second overall went to Yamaha's Russell Pearson, who left Arizona thinking that he had bombed the event. "I did horrible today: said Pearson. "I got stuck at a bottleneck for a while and burned a check." Ironically, the timing mistake and Pearson's burned check on the first loop turned out to be what gave him" second overall. He too scored a 13, however Lafferty won on the tiebreakers. Prior to the club's final results, there were actually a few riders who thought that they had finished behind Lafferty. Randy Hawkins was one of them.