couldnt
go
around - those bushes were so
thick," Edrnondson said of the botdenecks.
"Everybody
ah,vays says
its nasty
weather
here, and it
panned
out that way."
Lafieny had a tough time
getting
around
riders.
"l
iust
got
hung up early on," Laffeny
said,
"but
not too awfully bad.
Just
getting
behind some
people
and
gettirE
bottled up,
not
being
able to
Eet
around
-
that's enduro
racing!"
Garrahan
got
through the cold stuff
pret-
ty well.
"They
had a solid test for us, it was
pret-
ty
cold," Garrahan said.
"Some
frozen sec-
tions out there were almost like
lugeing
down
some hills."
Check five was where the leaders lost an
additional three
points
each,
before
gefting
to the remote
Eas
stop. Edmondson, Hoess
and Garrahan were still separated by only
20 tie-breaker
seconds, while last
year's
event winnei Billy Russell,
was next with a
6.177, edgng Lalferty's 6.193.
''My
float was sticking, I
lost massive
amounts of
fuel,"
KlM/Fox/lvloore &
SonvMarcds-supported Russell said.
"l
had
to
get gas
from someone and run
my
pet-
cock on half to
get
to
gas.
l'm surprised my
score was so close."
The
second loop
was
another 4l miles in
lenSth,
incorporating some of the more
remote sections of the area, which included
more rocl!/ sections, heavit
brushed single-
track trails, steep hills and fireroads.
KTM/Michelin/Motorex-sponsored
Lafferty closed
the
gap
on Garrahan by
being the only froffiunner to zero check
senen, but Garrahan answered
back by
get-
ting the best score in the
second test at
check eight, taking a frve compared to
e\aeryone else's sixes-
The
battle betrveen dte two talented
KTM riders continued to the last check,
where Lafferty logged
the only four, while
mo€t
of the other top riders came out of it
with frves.
A seven-mile trek along fire and
Jeep
roads led
weryone back to camp, where
the scoring talt of tie-breaker
seconds
gave
Garrahan's final 15.449
the edge over
Lafferry's 16.553. Gas GaVKenda,/Spectro-
backed Hoess's total
of
18.500
was
good
for third, Edmondson's
19,549
for
fourth
and Russell's 20.597 for fifth.
"l
never really feh like
I went fast all day,
I
iust
rode
smooth, consistent, didn't make
any mistakes - and that's what it took!"
Garrahan said.
"The
club did
good
with the course and
the weather they had," Laflerty said.
''The
conditions made it
just
safe
enough that we
still were dropping some
points -
it wasn't
god-awful
dangerous
-
it was
still
passable."
Nick Fahringei Rich Lafferty,
Russell
Bobbitt, Steve Sifuestri and Tim Stowe
rounded out the top ten Aly'A class
com-
petitors,
while I'4ike Napoli
claimed the B
class overall and Duane Flores took top C
class honors.
Cil
CrtAr CEE( Rrdr.rc Anr^
CEAI CnEr& CAuron lA
Rrsuus: FranuArY 19, ,006
(Ror[.D
I or l I)
OVEnAL
L
hrri
