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/128381
National Enduro Series Comeback Mike Lafferty returns after injury to win again Steve Hatch checked in with second overall. Mike Lafferty computes the numbers en route to his third win of the series in Missouri. ter breaking his collarbone five weeks ago, Mike Lafferty's attempt to win his seventh National Enduro Series title seemed to be in jeopardy. At the time of he injury, Lafferty had won two consecutive rounds of the series and enjoyed a 27-point lead over Throttlehead.com's Steve Hatch after round five of the nine-round series. Lafferty, who sat out most of last year's off-road season with injuries, seemed well on his way to winning another title. But all that was put on, hold when Lafferty crashed out of the Big Buck GNCC in North Carolina, April 17, breaking his right collarbone in two places. "It couldn't have happened at a worse time," the 29-year-old said. "I had just started to build a good lead in the el)duro series and was sitting in second place in the GNCC series. Then I crashed and was looking at another setback. [Last year Lafferty had knee surgery in March and arm surgery after breaking his arm in October.] In order to salvage anythingJor the year, we opted for surgery, where they installed a titanium plate and screws. At the time, we thought I might be back for this round but only expected to sal- A 50 JUNE 8, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Matt Stavish remains in the points race with another solid finish, this time a third. vage a couple of points here before I could get back to 100 percent by the next round in July." Any doubt of the speed of Lafferty's recovery has been reduced to speculation now, as he won the Leadbelt National Enduro in convincing style, carding a 21 while Hatch and Matt Stavish turned in scores of 24 and 25, respectively. Randy Hawkins edged out Billy Russell by six seconds in the tiebreakers for fourth. They both scored 28s. "Coming here, all I wanted to do was finish somewhere in the top five and maintain my points lead," said Lafferty, on the Michelin/KTM Hardparts/Enduro Engineering KTM 400 EXC. "Heck, I just got the okay from the doctor to ride on Thursday and didn't think I had a chance [to win]. "I have to thank Alan and Melissa [Randt] for all their help here. [Alan Randt is Lafferty's longtime mechanic and manager.]," Lafferty added. "If it wasn't for them, I doubt if I'd be sitting here with the overall. They just kept me going by keeping me focused on riding and not worrying about how I was doing. Until we saw the scores at the end of the day, we had no idea I was going to win." "Everybody thought Mike [Lafferty] would be off