Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A MA FMF N a t io n a l C h a m p io n s h ip E n d u r o Series R o u n d 5: Appalachian D irt R iders Five (Left! Mike Lafferty, shown here le avi ng the start li ne, remains undefeated In the 2001 AMA FMF National Championship Enduro Se ries. H is recent Oh io w in came after a twomonth break for the seri e s. A ga s stop followed, and the next section took it s t oll on m an y riders, who found a slick , roc k y hill very diffi cul t to ascend . In fact , only veteran T er ry Cunn ingham , Jenks and Hawk m ak e it to th e top without p us hi ng , althou gh the bit of walking didn 't seem to hurt Laffert y . He utilized the sect ion to gain two points back on Je nks, as his one-four at the two checks were bett er than Jenks' two-five. " I had a good morning, beating Mike by two points, but I wasn 't fast enough in the afternoon ," Jenks confessed. "It was a good event, very technical ," Hoess said later. "T he section after the fi rst gas had a couple of bottlenecks on some hills, and I had to wait to get a run at them ." S T O RY AND PHOTOS BY B RIA N S O UT HWO RT H WELLSTON, OH, JUN. 10 h o u g h the Enduro Series ha d taken a two -month break before res uming in on a wa rm , su nny da y wit h a cl assic , 126 -m ile eastern event in sout heas tern Ohio, ot he r off -ro ad c irc ui t s suc h as th e GNC C and th e Reliab ilit y Qualifier Series had provid ed the t op r id ers plen ty o f t ime to retain thei r conditioning (th e Qualifi ers don't count toward th e Enduro Series thi s year). Laffert y partook in th e form er, whi le Robbie Jenks , Fred Hoess, Matt Stavish and Randy Hawkins con tested the latter. Which strategy was the bett er? One would assume tha t th e Oh io Qu ali fier , h eld j ust two week s earlier in nearb y Mc Arthur , woul d have bett er prepared the enduro regulars for th eir return to enduro co m petition, but th at was n 't th e way it p anned out. Defend ing champ Mik e Lafferty picked up wh er e he left off, nabbi ng y et another win to keep his perfect record thus far in the 200 1 series . Now that the series is over th e hump, the KTM racer stands a realistic shot of actually sweeping the seri es. Laffert y 's c losest com peti t ion th is tim e around c a me from Yamaha racer J enks. wh o ha d won the Oh io Qua lifi er. Veteran Ho ess rooste d a 250cc Husqv arna to the final podium spot. (he norm all y rides a 12 5 ) , while St av ish t oo k h is Span ish - built Gas T 44 J UNE 2 7 , 2 00 1 • cue I e Gas to fourth overall, one position ahead of the Yama ha thu m per pi loted by fo rmer champ Hawk in s. Th in gs didn't start off so great for Lafferty, as t he three -t im e cham p carded a one in the firs t sect ion , while J enks an d Stav ish bot h zeroe d . He th en slipped back another poi nt from Jenks in th e next sect ion , slidi ng h is way th rough the muddy co urse with a five , while J enk s sta y ed on the gas for a four. "I got off to a slow st art bec au se with all the GN CCs I've been ri di ng , you have to p ace yourself: La ff erty admitted . " So it t oo k m e part of th e r a c e t o get b ack t o my q u i c k bu rsts ." (Be lowl Another Lafferty - Ga s Gas ri der Richard - gets his scorecard marl

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