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/128618
AMA/FM F Nation a l E ndu r-o S e r-ies/Reliability E n d u r-o S e r-ie s R o u n d s 7-8/2 S T O RY AND P HOT OS BY D OU G K A RCHER IDAHO CITY, 1 JUNE 3-4 0, oft -spo k en Russ Pearson ro de his Yamaha into this h istoric m in in g town and quietly made off with all the gold, tak ing first - p lac e honors both days at the Idaho City Two- Da y Qualifier. Pearson 's consistent riding style a nd determ inati on p a i d off, as he d omin a t e d this c hallenging e vent from sta rt to fini sh . Sp annin g two days, and a broa d ex panse of t ra il s in the mounta ins no rt heast of Boi se, the Two- Day ful fil l ed t wo ro u nds of the A M A / FM F Raci n g National Enduro Ser ies and one st op of the AMA Quali fi er/Two Day Reliability Enduro Series. Hosted by the Boise Ridge Riders , the club members, with the help of friends and volunteers, worked ye ar round to pre pare f or ( a n d cle a n- u p afte r ) thi s weekend's event, whic h attr acted 300 riders ( the ma x imum a llowa ble b y th eir perm it) from all over the country. St art ing from a base level of 4000 feet, the course took riders up to an elevation of 6500 feet, and tumed out to be a d ifficult ride for most of the entrants . Onl y 72 o f the 124 " A " starter s fin ished Saturday 's grueling 136-mil e,7 1/2-hour course tha t fea tured six spe cial tests . The " B" riders o n Sat u r d a y had a " l e i su rel y" 101 m il es t hat sawall but 28 of the 72 starters f ail to finish ou t the day. U n like last yea r's e v e n t, whe n tim el y rain showers made for nearly . perfect tr ail c ond itio ns, this year tem p er atu res in the high 80 s and trails th at hadn 't seen moisture in weeks, if not months, m ad e thi s a test of ride r's S 34 J UNE 2 1 , 2 000 ' cue I e sta mina as m uc h as their riding skill. T he d ry , dust y conditions p ro ved to be one o f th e greatest ch allenges of the eve nt, possibly no more so than for so me of the east ern riders. KTM Sportcycle ride r Michael Lafferty wa s, non eth el ess , upbeat f ollow in g hi s sixth -place finish on Sat urday . "Last weekend wa s tough for m ost of the West Coast guys becau se it was real mudd y ; for me it seem ed great, " La fferty said . " You co me out here and bein g dusty it' s j ust a differ ent element, the guys from out here think it 's [th e dust] fine, y o u know Destry [Abbott] and some of the other guy s like that. " Multi -time National Enduro Champion Hawkins, who hails from South n e vv s (Above) Russ Pearson was unbeatable In Idaho. He topped both days for both National and Qualifier wins. (Be low) De stry Abbott was hot and cold ยท hot on Sunday and cold on Saturday. Caro lina , had sim ilar comments following his fourth -pla ce rid e on Saturday . " T h e Ridge Ri d ers did a r eally good j o b with the cou rse; it' s to ugh, it's chall engi ng," Hawkins said . "T he factor is the dust; it's ki nd of dangero us in some sec t i o ns . In m e a nd Michael's case , working with the du st could co me into play." Eastern, west ern , it di dn 't m atter , no one was im mune from the d ust, as another KTM rider, Br ian Garrahan (who collected second -place honors both days) testified. "It wasn 't like it usually is up here in Idaho," he said. " We' re used to the best tra ils ever and today was just nasty and dust y ." Saturda y was a b it discouraging for last ye ar's overall (a nd day two) winner , D es t r y A b bott. The T eam Green r ider s uffe r ed m e ch an i c al problems that sl owed and d ro p ped him down to an uncharacteristic 14th place . "W e forgot to put a hol e in th e gas ca p , so it was va p o r lockin g and dy ing i n the sp ec i al t est ," Abbott. said . "T he n m y spa rk plug broke at th e end of th e da y . It j ust wasn 't a good day fo r m e. " M o os e O ff-R oad /FMF /Sm ithb a ck e d T e a m G r e en r id er Brian Brown ( w ho spe nt Sa t urda y gettin g used to and break ing in a new bik e), pu t up two seco n ds and a t hird in special tests on h is way to th ird on Saturd ay. H i s specia l tes t scores were n't quite as good on Sunday and he sli pped a pl a c e to fourth . Even st ill , it w as good enough for third overa ll in the Qu alifi er final tally . " It to ok me a while to get use d to it [th e bike and th e cou r se]: Brown said. " I haven 't ridden in the woods fo r over a year. I thin k I did pretty well under th e circum sta nces." Arguably the to ughest sec ti o n of th e course on Saturday (A loop) was the Forest K ing. "T he K ing," as it is known locall y , consist ed of a tight , stee p , rocky cl imb up th e side of th e mountain. And i t caused a good number of clutch es t o h eat u p and radia to rs to boil. It d id seem to please ma ny of t he t o p r i ders who w er e reported to hav e been heard hooting an d ho ll er in g at course workers as th ey m ad e th eir way up t he hill. T hey we re having fun . S und a y th e cl u b ran t he sa me trails in reverse , and it was sli ght ly less strenuous fo r the A r iders, as