parent lY Mike Lafferty hasn't lost his step
,
when it comes to winning National Enduros .
Four months after go ing under the knife to
repair his knee , KTM's six-time Na tional
nduro Champ ion got right back to business
and picked up where he left off - winning. In this case,
winning the Loose Moose National.
Lafferty returned to the National Enduro Series for
round six in Marquette, Michigan, and rode his Alan Randttuned KTM 250 EXC as though he hadn't been off it at all no rust , no cobwebs. By the end of the day, Lafferty had
dropped 25 points , which was two points better than the
scorecard turned in by former champ Randy Hawkins.
As you can imagine, Lafferty was quite happy with his
performance in Michigan and will concentrate on having fun
for the rest of the series, using the time to solidify his speed
and get back into his usual strong fitness level.
'" rea lly like riding the enduros; they are an adventure as
well as a race," Lafferty said. 'io\nd I had some issues to deal
with at this ride, but with the help of Alan and Melissa [Alan
Randt's Wife) , I got through it and was able to do well. Even
with some arm pump and losing my brakes, I still was able
to have fun."
Lafferty got off to a quick start and kept pace with
Hawkins until going two up on Hawkins by the sixth check.
Up to this point Lafferty had dr opped 14 po ints and
Hawkins 16 points. Hawkins said he was still waiting for the
Gerito l to kick in. And it soo n did, but it wasn't eno ugh.
Thro ugh the final three checks, two of them emergency
checks, Hawkins actually came away with slightly better
scores on the tie breakers but couldn't get the edge on the
who le points, as both riders dropped I I points apiece ,
which clinched the win for Lafferty
.
Despite getting nipped by Lafferty Hawkins was upbeat
,
afterward and looked at the positives.
"Yeah, I could've won today, but my typical slow-starter
act in the morning held me back," he said. "I had fun on my
Yamaha today, it worked great, but my hat's off to Mike com ing off his injury, he did a really good job riding today.
But, it wasn't your typical show that you
used to see in the past , with Lafferty
running away. So we live to fight
another day!"
Hawkins had another reason to be happy, as the win
put him on top of the
series points standings - but not by
A
72
AUGUST 4,2004 • CYCLE N EW S
40th Anniversary
