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/128312
n its 22-year history, the AMA National Enduro Championship has seen many champions come and go, but some of them, like Bill Baird, Dick Burleson, Terry Cunningham and Randy Hawkins have certainly come but have simp ly refused to go. They just kept winning and winning and Winning... just like Mike Lafferty is doing right now. Lafferty became the third-winningest rider in the sport's history when he reeled off his sixth National Enduro title last year. Only two riders have more champ ionships than he - Dick Burleson with eight and Bill Baird w ith seven . At just 25 years of age, Lafferty has plenty of time perhaps to become the sole rider at the top of the list. Unfortunately, his title run might be put on hold fo r a while. The day after we hooked up with Lafferty for this interview (the day prior to the opening round of the Nat ional Enduro Series in Arizona), Lafferty reinjured a knee tha t he originally damaged on New Year's Day while -u raining. rafferty ill not finis die Arizona race E "'t- · · instead took an early flight back home to have the knee evaluated by his doctor. Obviously, this wasn't the start to the series he was hoping for, and his 2004 season is in definite jeopardy. Still, Lafferty has come back from adversity before, so you can never count the big man from New Jersey out . Ever. I Six and Counting Wh at does winni ng you r sixth N ational End uro title mean to you ? A It means a lot. Six times is pretty good. We've Signed Mon with KTM for another three years, so hopefully I can grab a few more. That's the plan. I'm kind of surprised I've done it this long - six t itles, that's pretty good . ln a nu t shell, how wo uld yo u su mmarize yo ur 2003 season? I had some bad luck in California, but once we got Mback East, I got things turned around - we started moving. The GNCCs I started off with a DNF, had some terrible luck right off the start, then we got the ball rolling and got the bike figured out . Two years ago was really good . I won like almost every enduro on the four-stroke - all except one. I loved that bike. It worked so good in a lot of places. Last year, it was still good, but we just had some bad luck, and we had to start behind the eight ball. It was a little more hard work to get things dialed in and get turned around before like midseason. Q A W h Y a re you suc h a n acc o m p lished e nd uro rider ? I do n't know. It's all I've ever do ne · enduros. When JI-\J grew up, my first race I was 14 . I won my first enduro when I was 15, so, from 15 to 25 that 's all I've ever been doing. Switching over to GNCCs - that's why it' s a litt le more difficult. I think it's just because I've been doing them [endurosJ fo rever, to be honest. When I grew up, my main series and main attention were enduros; tha t's all the re was . There were 20-some events, and they were all enduros; there weren't any hare scrambles ; there was hardly any motocross, it seemed. It was just th is big enduro series. That's how I got my experience. There was a huge learning curve for me before I even got into the Nationals . I learned a lot. Back East or back home the re are a lot more timekeeping races that you have to know all the rules and all the little games and secrets, and the Nat ional enduros, they don't play that many. There's not that many secrets or trick games, or hiding things here and there, so I've learned from one extreme, and [enduros] became easier as far as keeping time and know ing everything in the Nationals. Q A When it comes to enduros, six-time champ Mike Lafferty is (fda man" STORY AND P HOTOS BY KIT PALMER 40 FEBRUARY 25, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary