THE WEEKLY FEED: Dick Burleson then and now

A HISTORY LESSON

Dick Burleson won an incredible 8 National enduro championships in a row. He retired after the 1981 season. These photo show him then, an open faced helmet, glasses and determination that cannot be learned help fuel his drive to always give it his all. The lower photo is from a Hard Enduro held in Marquette Michigan last week Dick Burleson, now 70 years old is still racing. Yes he snuck to a win in the 70 class, and finished an incredible tenth overall and third in the Pro class. Nick Fahringer won, Phil Smage took the top spots.

DB raced a Husky 150 fit with a trials tire and a Rekluse clutch. Pretty incredible that a 70-year old can finish a tough enduro in the top ten. Thanks to Tyler Johnson for the photo

NEWS

RYAN SIPES WINS SPRINT ENDURO HELD ON A GOLF COURSE!

Mr. Sipes tearing it up on a golf course! Photo Darrin Chapman

Costal Racing/Husqvarna’s Ryan Sipes returned to action this weekend with the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series presented by PRI Powersports Insurance, where he came away with a dominating win at round seven of the series in Glen Daniel, West Virginia. Over the course of two days of racing, Sipes won 9 of the 12 tests and finished nearly two minutes ahead of runner-up Cory Buttrick, while series point leader Steward Baylor came away with third overall, just a tick of the clock off of Buttrick’s time.

“It’s cool to come back to this series – this was a good event,” said Sipes. “I enjoy racing these sprint races and since it was on a golf course I couldn’t pass it up.”

The win marked Sipes’ third of the season in the series. In addition to the pro riders, a large contingent of amateur riders joined Sipes at this weekend’s event in pursuit of every dirt biker’s dream: to race on an active golf course. And according to Sipes it was a big thrill. “I think everyone enjoyed racing on the golf course, it was awesome,” said Sipes. “It’s a nice course and we were actually racing down some of the fairways and jumping off of tee boxes. It was pretty cool.”

According to Full Gas Sprint Enduro promoter, Jason Hooper, Hidden Valley Golf Course made their clubhouse facilities, fairways, sand traps and greens available for the event. “The owners of the golf course are into motorsports and they were looking for ways to get people out here, so they thought if they hosted a race it would be good publicity,” said Hooper. “I think everyone enjoyed it. It was one of those things you always fanaticize about doing.”

Buttrick matched his best result of the year with his runner-up finish. The SRT Racing KTM-backed rider from Ohio closed out the weekend with three seconds and five third-place finishes out of the 12 tests.

Steward Baylor at speed in the woods. Photo Darrin Chapman

Despite finishing third, Baylor still managed to increase his point lead by a single point over Beta USA’s Jordan Ashburn, who was fourth overall for the weekend. With just two rounds remaining, Baylor now has 270 points while Ashburn left West Virginia sitting on 265 points. Buttrick is third overall in the title chase with a total of 231 points. Josh Strang rounded out the top five. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory rider won the opening test of the weekend, but damaged his rear brake assembly in the second test and seemed to struggle after that. Sixth place went to Connecticut’s Josh Toth, who edged his N-FAB/Am Pro Yamaha teammate Ricky Russell by 12 seconds for the position.

Beta’s Jordan Ashburn started slow but had a good sunday to move up in the standings. Photo Darrin Chapman

WORCS FINALE IS THIS WEEKEND AT ADELANTO!!

RICKY RUSSELL TO RACE IN JAPAN’S JNCC OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP

Racer Productions, producer of the AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series, presented by Maxxis, and AMA National Championship, is pleased to announce that XC1 Open Pro racer Ricky Russell will compete in the AAGP season finale on Sunday, November 5, at the Jigatake Ski Resort in Omachi City, Nagano, Japan. This announcement comes as GNCC Racing marks the 12th year of partnership with the Japan National Cross Country (JNCC) Series, Japan’s all-motorcycle cross-country championship.

Russell’s 2017 GNCC season has been stellar, where he claimed his first-ever career overall win at the AMSOIL Snowshoe GNCC and currently sits fourth overall in the National Championship standings. Russell follows GNCC racers such as Paul Whibley (2006), Jason Raines, Charlie Mullins and Rodney Smith (2007), Nate Kanney and Thad Duvall (2008), Josh Strang and Kailub Russell (2009), Cory Buttrick (2010), Jesse Robinson and Jason Thomas (2011), Rory Mead and Josh Strang (2013), Jordan Ashburn (2014), Chris Bach (2015); and most recently, Trevor Bollinger (2016), in being selected to represent GNCC Racing in Japan.