ROUND ONE OF THE NATIONAL ENDURO SERIES–FEB 17

Coalinga CA. 2/17/02

(This story was sent to us by Alan Randt)

Heavy rains Sat. night and Sun. morning made the first round of the 2002 National enduro series quite a muddy mess. Defending series champion Mike Lafferty picked up where he left off last year with a dominant win on his KTM 400exc. As the first rider left the line at 7:31am the skies were very dark and it continued to rain so one of the riders biggest challenges was vision. Goggles were fogging and hands were cold because the temperatures were only in the low forties down low but it got worse as they headed up the mountain where the rain turned to snow.

When they finished the first of three loops the scores were close as Lafferty, Hawkins and Hoess all had lost three points, and the rain continued. Loop two would start to spread the scores out seeing Lafferty back another six, Hawkins nine and the rest of the field slipping back from there. The final loop (for the AA and A riders only) would prove to be a big struggle for every one because of the very wet and tight trail. Riders were finding out how well they had trained over the winter because with the combination of the rain, snow, hills, rocks and 140+ miles it was very difficult. Lafferty was once again the fastest through the loop; even after riding the last few miles with a broken rear brake hose he posted a four point lower score than everybody.

1) Mike Lafferty                  KTM                        23
2) Randy Hawkins             YAM                         30
3) Fred Hoess                          HUS                         42
4) David Lykke                      YAM                        42
5) Matt Stavish                      GG                             46
6) Rich Lafferty                     KTM                        62
7) Craig Holasek                   KTM                        73
8) Tim Taber                               KTM                        78