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AMAlFMF National Champ ionship Enduro Series Round 1 0 : Sam H o u s t o n Nationa l F o r e s t ,erne on THE eAM[' Mike Lafferty puts a fork in the series with sixt h w in Mike Lafferty capped off the 2003 AMAlFMF Na tional Enduro Se ries w ith h is sixth win In Texas. Bv G E O RG E VI LLA NVI NEW WAVERLY, TX, SEPT. 28 ike Lafferty fi ni shed off the 2003 AMA/FMF National Enduro Series with a bang, as he ag ain showe d th at he has wh at it ta ke s to top th e fiel d, reg ardless of th e type of ev ent th e pro moters c an muster up. "J unior" rode ,!lis Alan Randt -tuned KTM EXC250 to ~ - a. sco re o f si x at the Can ey Cre ek National , ed ging o ut D a v i d Ly k k e , who rod e to a sev en- point tally on his Yam aha . Rounding out the pod ium on another Yamaha , but th is time it was a t humper , was Randy Hawk ins , wh o rode to a fina l sco re of eight. A s y o u ca n se.e, th e points were lo w at th e Can ey Cr eek Enduro , as th e co nd iti o ns were perfect , ca rried o ut o n fairl y open O RV trai ls in the Sam Houston Nati on al Forest. Laffer ty spoke up afte r th e event , sayin g thanks to all his spo nso rs , esp ec ially to AI and Meliss a, his pit crew , for all th eir he lp over the yea rs. " I co ul d have never done it wi thout thei r hel p ; they are the back bo ne of m ~ 30 O CTOB ER 15 , . 2 0 03 • "- ?'e u .. everything I do ," Lafferty said. Ju n i o r h a s b een rac i ng a tw o stroke KTM for th e last t wo GN CCs and us ed it also for the fina l Enduro this ye ar, as he is prepa rin g to swit ch ove r t o it full t im e n e x t ye ar. It appe ars as tho ug h t h e machin e i s wo r kin g as well as th e four -stroke m achin es La ff ert y has been using fo r years now . W hen as k ed abou t the c hange, Laffert y said , "T he 250 EXC is all ne w since th e last ti me I ro de one, and I really lik e it, and it's fun to ride someth ing d ifferent. I really do n't t h i n k it made a d iffe ren c e i n th e results or an ything , as it was a pr ett y easy race . I' m not even tired." Dav id L y k k e 's com ment o n the tou ghness of th e eve nt was: "l' rn not e v e n re mo t ely tired . " Mo st of t he series regulars agreed th at th is was by far th e easiest National Endu ro of the yea r. Many o f the end u ro s th is yea r were tou gh , with racers droppi ng over 100 p oints, but th e Can e y Cre e k National was a typical Te xa s enduro, whi ch consisted of lots of time-keep ing, utilizing many emergency checks. .n e _ s I .. The cl ub put tog eth er al most 100 m ile s of t rails , em p loying 15 checks along the way to score the racers. Th e required speed av era ge was usu all y 18 or 20 miles per hour, with only a few miles of 24 - or 30-mph sections . Th is fo rm at was good for the ave rage rid er wh o ma y h ave a lot o f fun at th ese spee ds, but fo r a Nati onal -l evel eve nt, it ma y ha ve been a little light. Many of the A-level racer s we re di sappo in t ed with the event. but Randy Hawk ins sp oke of th e e ndu r o as a Nationa l-caliber event. "I th ink it was good for the average rid er ," Hawkins said. "Th ey lucked out with the weather this ye ar. with a little ra in just before the event - it ma de th e tra ils perfec t, no dust . It cou ld ha ve been rain ing or 110 degrees out here. and that would have made it a lot to ugher. The cl ub did an ex c ellent j o b w i th all the che cks and kep t every o ne safe and having fun ." Hawkins rod e a 2003 YZ2 5 0 F at th is ev ent , switching from the two str o ke m ount he usu all y ri des . " T h e fou r -strok e worked g reat today ; I j ust m ade one little m istake in the last sec tion, and that co st m e some time," he said. The first check of th e da y was at th e 6.5-m ile ma rke r, and it was here tha t eve ry o ne dropped at lea st o n e poin t. The 30 -mph speed av erage at the sta rt of the ride was m aintainable until the tra il went into the woods at abo ut three m iles out. Th e top 10 riders of the day all scored a one at this check, but seconds were al so rec orded, as check one was an emergency check . Rid ers le ft ch ec k one o n th e gas, as they were still beh ind schedule at the 30 -mph speed aver age . Just after the check , howev er, the speed was dropped to 18 mph, and by th e next check at 9.7 m iles out, m ost o f the throttle j oc keys were back on ti me. Th e re st of t he day was prett y much this t ype o f stuff, where y o u we re c h e c k e d in , raced f or three mi les , on ly to find o ut you were too hot by the ti me yo u go t to the next poss ible checkpoint. Lykke was co mm enting that he was pr etty frustrate d w ith th is format. as th ere was a lot of good trail , especially 24 m iles o f new trail tha t wo uld have been a lot of fun to r ac e on , instead o f t im e-k eeping through. L y k k e enjo ye d the sa ndy trails anyway, eve n tho ug h he wasn 't prepared fo r the m . Lykk e heard that t he riding in Te xas is m o stl y hardpac ke d t e r ra in , so h e h ad Dun lop 739s m ounted on hi s bik e. After rid ing th e first part of th e enduro , Ly kke hoped fo r some c ha nge in the soi l co nditio ns, but all of the Sam Houston Forest was sand y , and Lykke sli pped an d ski d de d h i s wa y to hi s seco nd second- place finish of th e year. At day's end , with only 10 miles of trail left, the speed was bumped back up to 30 mph aga in . At th is ' p o in t , '". th ere were almost a dozen rac ers who , owned scorecards w ith only one point on them. After the racers checked in at the 91.7 mile marker, they spe d away for the fi rst and only real test of the day. Lafferty got to th e check at . 97.2 miles first, coming through th e fl ag s at one minute and 59 seconds off the top of his minute. Lafferty was the only rider to drop a one here, as Lykke was next fa stest com ing through at two minutes and 14- Sec onds behind schedule. Hawkins was next at 2.40, and that was aft er he had a run -in with a tree. Racer ripped out of chec k 14 to tackl e the fi nal 4.5 miles of tra il. Both Lafferty and Lykke dropped 4 s, as Rand y had the on ly 5 at check 15. T he rest of th e fastes t Aclass riders all dropped 6s . So , needless to say , the scores were tight. The fina l rou nd o f th e N at iona l Enduro Series was histo ry and all the bragging ri ght s for the year complete. Th ere wasn 't a lot of j uggling in the yea r -end points tally, as H awk in s held on to second place for the ye ar, and Lykke held o n to third, where he hung out for most of th e se a son. Lykke was proud of his accom plish ments and was thanked his back ers : Yamaha , Lynnwood Motoplex, MSR, FMF and Me Pro Suspension. Robbie ' Je ks was abse nt but still h eld o n to fo u rth fo r th e yea r an d should be rem em be re d as the 20 03 " Ki ng of Bu rn s." St ephen Reed , wh o fi nishe d 14th overall , j umped in fro nt of Bar ry Hawk _ to st eal fi fth for the season. CIlI Sam Houston National Forest New Waverly, Texas Results: September 28. 2003 (Round 10 of 10J O /A : 1. Mi ke Laff ert y (KTM): 2 . Da vi d Lykk e (Yam ); 3. Randy Hawkins (Yam) ; 4. Mark Thompson (Hen); 5. Leona rd Keen (KTM) : 6. Mich ael Wil son (Yam ): 7. Mark Faulk (KTM): 8. Nolan Knight (Kaw): 9. Cod y Potts (Yam) ; 10. Eric McEachern (Yam). AMA/ FMF NATI O NAL CHA M PIO NSHIP ENDURO SERIES ANAL POINTS STANDINGS (All er 10 of 10 ro unds ) : t . Mike Lafferty (26 2/6 win s); 2. Randy Hawkins (205 ); 3. David l ykk e ( 191); 4. Robbie Jenks ( 144) : 5. Stephen Reed ( 105/1 win ): 6. Berry Hawk (1 03) : 7. Ric hard Lafferty (8 2): 8 . Eric McEachern (80) : 9. Nolan Knig ht (68) : 10. Rodney Judson (66).