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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128335
My
OWN RACE
The 19-year-old rocket from Atco, New Jersey, is working his way up the National Enduro Championship points
ladder. Even though he's only ridden halfof the series so
far, he's stillseventh overall in the series points standings.
Palmer had another good ride in Michigan, finishing sixth
overall. Once he gets his time-keeping skillsdown , it
won't be long before he nabs his first win.
The soft-spoken Billy Russell was anything but soft on his
KTM. The young rider from Watsonville, California, is
holding down fifth in the points battle . Russell had a good
day going until he crashed in the last section . He lost the
use of his front brake, which didn't help his cause any in the last
sections.
Gas Gas rider Steve Reed had a good ride going until he got
clothes -lined by a tree branch early in the race . After his head
stopped spinning, he spoke of the course: "It' s kind of technical.
The last section wore me out ."
I
Briefly...
I
The Loose Moose National Enduro offered
a $5000 purse. The overall winner took
home a cool $1000 , wh ile the rest was paid
all the way back to third place in the A
class, which was worth $SO.
As a joke, someone placed a warn ing label
on Steve Hatch's Kawasaki that read :
Diesel Fuel O nly. That was that person's
way of givingHatch a hard time for his mistakenly filling up his diesel-powered
motorhome with straight gas while traveling to Marquette.
much. By finishing ahead of th ird-place
finishing David Lykke, who held the po int
going into the Michigan round, Hawkins
now leads Lykke by just o ne t ick with
three ro unds still to go .
Lykke ended up with a 33 on his scorecard .
"I struggled a little bit today an d wasn't
as sm ooth as I'd like to be , but the co ur se
was great," Lykke sa id . " Mostly, Randy
and Mike were just flying to day."
Lykke actually took a dou ble wham my
in Mich igan, as he lost five po ints before
the ride even began. Just before t he
weekend, Lykke got word that he got
de mo ted from first to th ird after the AMA
ruled in favor of Steve Hatch in a sco ring
dispute at last Marc h's C herokee National
Enduro in Georgia. Hatch now gets credited for that w in.
Unfortunately for Hatch, however, the
celebration didn 't last for long w hen he
again had problems staying on the t ra il in
Michigan and fou nd himself riding up to
the same check twice! Ooops. This mista ke cost him a possible third-place finish
and 18 po ints ; instead , he ended up 14th
overall.
" It' s a tough one to swallow," Ha tch
said. "T he bike is working good, and we
have been up here all week, testing and
training. The club d id a good job. Th is is
great riding, friendly people, so we will be
back, and we are going to come back
swinging!"
T he course was laid o ut by the
Sandstormers Motorcycle a nd ATV Cl ub
an d he ld e ntire ly o n public land just sout h
o f Marquette, and th e t rails were un iq ue .
Some se ctions we re ope n, fast an d sandy,
and some were tight , rooty, slimy an d
very tec hn ical. Race c ha irman Nic k
Zambon said tha t he wanted t o put on a
very ridable course for all o f the 260
entrants.
Then, for the last and final test for the
A ride rs, Zambon w anted to make it
tough, "True Enduro fash ion," for the final
d eciding factor. Evidently he accomplished his goal , because th e riders rod e
right thro ugh the final reset as though it
didn 't even exist.
The last 10 or I I miles consisted of
brutal routes through the fo re st that
offered very little in the way of traction.
Even "iro nman " Jeff Fredette was tired at
The route sheet for the event was not
released until B p.m. on Saturday. The pro-
the last check.
" I hit t he wall," Frede tte said . "I was
just survival riding,"
Fredette was rewa rde d wi th t he
Se nior-class wi n with a 46 on his sco recard . He also e nde d up a respecta ble ISt h
overall.
Lacy Jones, the Wo me n's class points
leader attempted to ride the final section
just to do it. Well, after the race, Fred
Hoess was seen helping to extract Jones
from the last test. Hoess e nded up d ropping 3S po ints , which included one bum,
for fourth overall finish.
eN
LOOS E MOOSE ENDURO
MARoum E, MICHIGAN
RESUL
TS: J UL 18 , 2004 (ROUND
Y
6
Of
9)
O /A; I. H,k. LAfferty (KTH); 2. R>ndy Ha"""" (Y;om);
l . Oav;d lyl