Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Above) Fred Hoess was nlnnlng w ell until his chain broke, but he stili took fifth overall. (Above) Vet rlder Jim Prlce had the rlde of his life, finishing third overall. but it's not as good as it needs to be , really, to race Michael. " He finished the second section with a 3:08, compar ed to lafferty's 2:5 5. J ust a few seconds behind as well was Hoes s , second in the series points so far a nd riding in terra in very famili ar to him . Hoess was one of the riders favo red for a strong challenge to the KTM team, bu t a problem in the nex t section almost cost him the race. "I started a little slow, but I was up there. and in that th ird section I was pushing hard, when all of a sudden my chain snapped," Hoess said. "I don't know how it hap pen ed , but I must have put on a ha lf m ile of running back and forth looking for my chain. I couldn't find it! When I d id, I put a master link in it and got back ou t, and at the gas I put a who le new cha in on , but I lost a lot of time . It's a shame, because my bike wa s really wo rking well; it was set up by Era ldo Ferracci (of Fast by Fe rra cci], a nd he did a n excellent jo b - best I've ever had." Hoess was lucky to get out of the section with 1 1 points lost , while laffe rty co ntinued his ch arge by sett ing th e fa st tim e of s ix points . Haw kins ca m e o ut the other side with seven po int s dow n . a s d id S ta v is h . J im Price wa s sta rting to wa rm u p , and matched scores with the two na tiona l ride rs , also scoring seven . If they weren't wa rmed up by now , they we re do o m ed as they e nte red the Rhod y Rovers ' famous Rock Gar den section; nine miles of tight tra ils through unrelenting boulder fields . A new section go ing into it drew a lot of attention , as Lafferty expla ined: "The y had some new sections; there were some rock ledg es in there that were amazing . Like jum pi ng up on top of that fire truc k, with the rock on an a ngle - it was pre tt y gnarly. There were qu ite a few people there messed up . That sectio n went into the Roc k Garden secti on , a nd the Roc k Ga rden was the eas iest pa rt! It wa s n't ve ry long ; didn 't hav e to be ve ry lo ng, may be s e ve n mi le s o r som eth ing . They really sock ed it to you l" O nce ag ain, Laffe rt y s m o k e d thr ough th e section and s et a score that nobody else could touch: nine points . Hawkins and Hoess came closest, with 10 points down , fo llowed by Price and Stavish , both with 11. A res et an d check - in fo llowed , with anothe r short sect ion ta k ing fiv e po ints from Lafferty , Hawk ins , Hoess a nd McEachern , b ut Pr ic e c am e through d ropping four , an a lmo st heroic time , consider ing that the best score from anyone else in the A Vet class was 1 1 points! On e last section was left, 10 more m iles of riding into the finish, with 10 m iles already under their be lts. It was time to just hold it together and finish, wh ich was n 't ea s y fo r e ve ryo n e . Washington 's Dav id Lykke , th ird in National po ints last yea r, saw his ride fall a pa rt when he blew throug h a reset a nd into the check-in six-m inute s hot, and qu it in disgust. Lafferty miscalcula ted a rock in that section. c rashing ha rd an d knocki ng himself silly, ge tting ba c k up and heading the wrong wa y on the t ra il until another rider stopped him and turned him a round. " E ver y t hi n g wo rked pe rfec t toda y," Lyk ke sa id. "exc e pt in that last little section I got kind of messed up , fell, crashed, I don 't know wha t I d id. I hit my head and got messed up . It was cool, though, they did a great job. All in all, I had a good day." Hawkins had a better time in the last section, setting the low score of five points and closing his day with a 34 . "I d idn 't fall - that was my firs t o bjective ," he sa id. "Yo u know , th e Rh od y cl u b d id a g rea t job . T he y (Above) Erlc McEnch em finished f ou rth avera I. (Left) Brake troubles slowed Matt Stavlsh down. coul d have pun ished us toda y - we on ly had two sec t ions that we re maybe eight miles long ; everything else was six miles, five m iles , and I'll tell you , I had enoughl If they wou ld have had 10- or 12- mi le s e c tio ns , maybe a few more of th em , th e y would have had very few guys finish on the gas. I think they d id a great jo b ke e p ing everyon e in the game with resets and such." He was ph ilosoph ic a l a bout h is rac ing a ga inst Laffe rt y th is se aso n . "Mic hae l is riding rea lly we ll - he's got a lot of confidence," he sa id, "his b ike s are work ing rea lly we ll; AI Ra nd t an d him a re do ing a great jo b. For me, I need to be 100 percent in order to beat him. I made it throug h, though , an d I sa id if I co me ou t with a to p -three finish I'll be ecstatic about it. I kn o w I could ha ve done be tter healthy, but with my s hou lder th e wa y it is , that's as good as I cou ld ha ve don e ." Price finished third overall and High Po int A with a 36, a great ride. Eric McEachern 's excellent 39 -point ride on a CRE was good for fourth overall and tops in the AA Reg io na l cl a s s . Hoess finished fifth overa ll with a 39, just seconds ahead of Stavish , who claimed a good ride aside from a few tro ubles : "I did all right, I had a couple litt le problems, but overall I th ink I did decent . Th is was by far the toughest Nat ional en duro th is ye a r. I d o n 't cucla rem ember being th is tired for a couple of years! It was a lot of fun; the club did a n excellent job. I had some little prob lem s: in one secti on I broke m y brak e pedal off - I think they picked up a couple of points on me there. Then, th is morning m y front-br a ke caliper came om One of the bolts backed ou t, and the other was still hanging on , but the caliper wa s just flo pping there. I rode a short section, maybe only three or four m iles, but I didn 't use the front brake at a ll. I d idn 't wa nt it pivoting around and wre ck ing someth ing . Other than that, the bike worked rea lly good; even with stock springs and valv ing , the suspension worked great today. I had fun." Richard Lafferty , also of the Ga s Gas team , finish ed up lead ing a trio of 44 -point scorers , a nd took home seventh ove ra ll. He was tied in points with lo ca l ride rs J e rry Madore , who finished third ov erall he re last yea r, and Ric k Cla xt o n. F inishing up the top 10 was E-Line 's Ra ffi Peterson, who finished with a 46. With thr ee roun ds left , Lafferty has a co m ma nding lead but not a mathematical loc k on his fourth title. That sh ou ld be no pr oble m , but can he continue his unbeaten streak? CIIII IlIIeoIy.....en NaII....1End.... West &.-nwIch. llIIedeIsIad llesults: ....... 24, 2001 O /A : I. M i ch a. 1 LoII.rty (KTM) ; 2. Ran dy Hawk ins (V am); 3. J i m Pr ice ( KT M) ; 4 . E ri c Mc E ch.rn (C RE); 5. Fred Hoe as ( Hus); 6. M all Sta vlsh (G -G) : 7. Ric h Lafferty (G -G); 8 . .Jerry M.dor. (V am); 9 . Rick Cl ax to n (CRE) ; 10 . Rally Peterson (CRE). AMA FMF NATIONAL CHAM PION SHI P ENDURO SERIES POINTS STAN DINGS (Altor 6 01 9 rounds) : 1. Michael Lafferty ( 180/6 wins): 2. Randy Hawkin s ( 100): 3. Fred Hcees (98): 4. Motth... Stovish (88) ; 5. Richard La ft.rty (83 ); 6 . Rodn ey J udson (7 3) ; 7. David Lykke (59): 8 . Brian Garrahan (45 ); 9. Russ.1I Peerson (35) ; 10. Patrick Garrahan (34) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Del Norte, Colorado, July 15 Round 8 - Wolverine, Michigan, September 30 n a _ S • JULY 11 . 2001 49

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