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AMA FMF N a t iona l C h a m p io n s h ip Endu r o S e r ie s Round 6 : Rhody Rov e r s KJstion s l E n d u r o STOR Y AND PHOTOS BY PAUL C LI PPER/ T RA IL RIDER M A GA ZINE WESTGREENWICH, RI, JUN. 24 aving tak en victories at all of the previous rounds , KTM 's Michael Lafferty was the favorite go ing into A MA Nat ional Enduro Series ' Rhod e Island stop , and for the sixth ti me this year, he d idn 't d i sappoint. Th e KTM /Endu r o Eng ineering r i der charged off the line with his familiar " t a k e no prisone rs " attack in the morning and bu ilt up enough cushion that even an afternoon crash didn 't hurt. He fin ished the day with a score of 31 points, fully three points better than the closest competition. It was ex pe ct ed that local riders would k eep Lafferty wo rking , which was somew hat true, but his surprise co m p etition cam e from ri val and former National cham p Rand y Hawkins. Th e sur p ris e came because Hawkins was still suffering the e ffect s of a shoulder dislocation three weeks ear lier, and started the morning with a wait - and-see attitude, read y to pull out if he co ul dn' t hold on . The Yamaha rider wound up feeling better tha n exp ecte d and stron ger as th e da y went on, finishing with 34 points and second overall. Another surpris e c ame when the scores were tallied and local NETRA rider J im Pric e, riding out of the Vet A class for Valley Motorsports, turned in a great ride and finished third overall with a 36. Sta ying close to the national riders' scores all da y , Price uncorked a great ride in the fifth section of the day, co ming in j ust unde r the flip t o beat every rid er th ere into t he c hec k . Foll o wing cl o se be h ind Price was local rider Eric McEachern , Husqv arn a ' s F red Ho ess , and Ga s Gas' M att St av ish, all fi n ishi ng with 39 points . The da y st arted out foggy an d cool , with light showers now and th en ke ep ing th e ground d amp. Rain on Frida y and Saturda y made sure the soil w as mo ist and so ft , c reat ing a probl em fo r t he lat er ri ders as the tra ils deteri orated . T rail boss B il l Haas and the Rhod y Rov ers planned to ease into the tough secti ons, so th e rid ers were treated to some of the fi nest fun trails in Rho de Island before the hammer fe ll abo ut 40 m il es out . In all, the run was ap prox imately 110 ground m il es , a serious workout in New En gl an d . "You have to be ready t o rid e a Na t ional enduro when you come here," Haas said. " L ast year , I remembe r this ru n being tough in the beginnin g and then tapering off and being easier throughout the day," Laffe rty said. "This time it was prett y easy , you know, lollygaging aro und and keep ing tim e, screwing arou nd, and then boom , they put it to us . Once we went th rough tha t farm sect ion , six m iles [lon g], from there on out it wa s rocks." H 48 JULY 11, 2 0 01 • c ue I e St ill , points were taken in the fir st section , and Lafferty did wh at he does best, attac k ing with enough fo rce in t h e m orn i ng t o g et an imme diate jump on the competition. In the fi rst section he did just that , although not b y m uc h. He checked out of the short, ti ght wo od s section with 3:10, j u st a hair be tte r th an EC EA rider Michael Brad way an d W ER's Ch r i s Smith, bo th ridi ng Yam ahas. The sec ond section of the day was simila r in design , and Lafferty was up to stride with a 2:55 on the check-out, a fu ll point better than anyone else . Meanwhil e, Haw ki n s was beginning to feel m o re confi dent in his shoulder. He had suffered a disloca tion in his ri ght shoulder at the Ohio GNCC earlier in the month, and as of the morning start had l it tl e confi dence in his ability to finish . " We' ll see how it goes ," he had joked on Saturday afternoon , "but you 'd better get yo ur pictures earlyl" Two sections down the trail, where he lo st a p oi n t in each but not by m uch , hi s co nfi dence got a boost. "My shoulder surp rised me today ," he said. "It was better than I expected, n e _ s