Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Land of Enchantment Endurance Rally· D At SPORT U ~ ~ Butler nips Carter in N Mexico ew By Larry Langley CLOVIS, NM, SEPT. 26-27 ust one tick of the clock determined the winner at the inaugural running of the Land of Enchantment Endurance Rally in New Mexico.· After 874 miles and two full days of competition, Honda XLR250mounted Glenn Butler from Prattville, Alabama, earned the overall win with a score- of 675 points, which was just enough to edge out Motion Pro owner and Honda XR600-mounted Chris Carter for the overall victory. The Land of Enchantment Rally, designed for dual sport bike riders, was the brainchild of Clovis Sportcycles Association's Roger Pattison. The concept was to test the riders' endurance, motorcycle preparation and 'the ability to negotiate a variety of terrain as well as two timed special test sections. Fourteen riders participated in the event, but promoter Pattison was optimistic about the lower than expected turnout. "We had 16 pre-entries, but two of them didn't ~how up. Our limit was 40 riders," said Pattison. "Despite the lower turnout than we had hoped for, I'm happy the way everything worked ..... out, because this was more of a learning experience than anything. Next year we'll make improvements by listening to the comments of the riders who rode this event. Next year's rally will probably be a four-day event, with less mileage but carried out in the same amowlt of time, and perhaps a little rougher." Riders from New Mexico, California, Nevada, Texas, Alabama, Kansas, New York and Michigan took part. They were mounted on street-legal bikes ranging from converted XR Hondas, XLR Hondas and XT Yamahas, to KLR650 Kawasakis, a lone BMW and a DRS650 Suzuki. The guys on the "big" bikes referred to themselves as "Heavyweight Cruiser class" riders. Participants guessed on the best tires to run with choices ranging from full knobbies to the more streetoriented dual sport tires. At the riders' meeting Friday night, Pattison doled out route sheets, maps and other information. The rally format was new to dual sport riding, as there would be timed sections and special tests similar to international rally rules. The roll chart contained numerous "transiC' sections where the rider could be early at the end of the section and a special test each day. Some known checks were at the local Allsup's convenience stores where contestants used the employee time clock to stamp their scorecards. Since' most riders had traveled a considerable distance just to get to Clovis, there were no late e.vening parties; most were in bed early to try and get a good night's rest in preparation for an ll-hour ride that was scheduled for Saturday. Promptly at 7:01 a.m. the first-two riders headed out of the Holiday Inn parking lot. J o The roll charts were accurate but riders on bikes with odometers that only reset to zero had no chance to correct any error until the end of each section. Since some sections lasted up to 100 miles, some riders had up to three-mile errors to mentally adjust. The riders with reset-to-lOths odometers had it much easier. Luckily the roll charts had a wealth of landmark· information to help determine the correct turns. Just 30 minutes' into the ride, the first special test was held at the local motocross track. Chris Carter was the first rider on the track on his converted XR600 Honda and he proceeded to set the best time on the 0.8-mile hardpacked track. Butler was just 10 seconds in arrears. Nevada rider Jesse Goldberg was riding under a painful handicap, as he had just about torn his nose off with an errant tire iron a few days before the ride. Numerous stitches inside and outside his nose made it a bit uncomfortable but with a lot of enthusiasm and the help of some special goggles, courtesy of Scott, Goldberg was able to ride. The prospect of over 400 miles a day for two days had a lot of the riders worried, but as it turned out, most kept pace. A lot of the terrain was wide open, and cruising at high speed down back roads was the norm. Most riders arrived at the timed checks at least 20 minutes early. Some sections were long and uneventful, while others provided plenty of scenery over the New Mexico countryside. One particular scenic section took riders through the 48,000 acre Tom Tom sheep ranch where co-owner Jeanine Best provided refreshments for the riders. Saturday's ride ended in Ruidoso where everyone was treated to a Saturday night buffet and briefed on Sunday's course. Riders voted· to start at 7:00 a.m. rather than the planned 6:30 a.m. start. . At 7:01 Sunday morning, the first two riders were again underway and freezing their tails off. Noone figured the temperature would be 32 degrees. The transit section was all on paved roads to' Cloudcroft in the Lincoln National Forest. At the first check, riders were trying to defrost before tackling West End Road, a 29-mile fire road through the forest with views of the White Sands National Monument thousands of feet below. . Many entrants lost points in this section and a few got temporarily lost. Rosedale, New Mexico, Honda dealer Jimmy Allison blew a turn and ended up in a ditch. After another rider helped him out, his bike wouldn't start, and he had to be towed to the next check. Finally he got the spark restored and motored on. Goldberg missed a turn and took what he called a scenic tour down the wrong road. He stated that if you were in error, the next mileage check on the roll chart wasn't for seven miles and y<;>u didn't The first-running of the two-day dual sport rally featured more than 870 total miles. . The results were determined by two timed special test sections, one on each day. know you were lost! He finally got back on track. Jack McGhee was mounted on a KLR650 Kawasaki and felt right at home. Being from El Paso, he regularly rides in the area and had a little bit of a "home field" advantage. He was very fast on the big Kawasaki, and didn't have any problems getting to the check at the end of West End Road on time, as he figured out he could get into the section early and use the time to his advantage. Ditto for BMW rider Paul Kuhn. After the mountains, it was back to the "flatlands" for the ride back toward Clovis. At the last check, Goldberg discovered his rear tire was flat. He fixed it, but 10 miles later it went flat again and he hung it up. Outside of Clovis, the sponsoring club laid out a five-mile special test on land they regularly lease for club use. It was five miles of sand and was very soft and the "Heavyweight Cruiser" riders just hoped to finish. The others were to determine the WInner. Carter rode a fairly good test, but since he was the first rider on the course, he was forced to slow down a couple of times to find the trail, while Butler was just one minute back and had Carter in sight. "I was able to key off of Chris and that was the difference," said Butler. "1£ I had been leading, he probably would've beat me. Also, I was lucky when I crashed earlier and got help. And then when my speedometer cable broke, I was able to bird-dog off of them and follow the course." Butler edged out Carter by just II seconds to erase the earlier deficit and win the event by a scant second, but Carter got some consolation by scoring the Open A class win. Paul Kuhn had a tough time in the sand on his big Beemer, and when he finally motored across the finish line, all the riders gave him a standing ovation. "This was great," said Kuhn. "I didn't think I was going to make it. " CN Results 0/A: I. Glenn Buller (Hon). OPEN A: I. Chris Carter (Hon); 2. Jack McGhee (Kaw); 3. Gil Roberts (Hon); 4. Larry Langley (SUI). 400 A: I. Woody Allison (Hon); 2. Buck Fredick (ATK); 3. Jimmy Allison (Hon). 400 B: I. Marty Howell (Yam); 2. Paul Kuhn (BMW). 19

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