Event Review - Beehive 2001


District 7 Championship Enduro Series Round 8 of 10
The 31st annual Beehive Enduro August 26, 2001
Mauricetown, New Jersey
Hosted by the Competition Dirt Riders
This is for all the folks who didn't make it to the Beehive. You missed the show, and alot of fun! What a great time. Jack Jr pulled out all the stops and held the entire field back by a full minute this year with only 14 points dropped on the day over his closest competitors, Aaron Kopp, Steve Pfeffer, and E Vanaman, all dropping 15 points each. This score resulted in Jack Lafferty Jr taking the second of back to back Grand Champion trophies home to add to the family honors. Jack Jr is keeping them honest in the East Coast Moose Series events while Mike Lafferty is leading the National Series with the support and love of his family, and Jack Lafferty Sr is whipping them in the A-Super Senior class! It just doesn't get any better than this... Well, yes it does.. Kathy and George are tied for 2nd in A-Super.

Congratulations go out to these top finishers at Beehive
Mike Sigety A Vet 1st place
J Bowen A Four Stroke 1st place
R Shirk A 250 1st place
Michael Berenbak A-125 1st place
Joe Mallory B-125 1st place
Jarod Johns B-200 1st place
Ken Shaeffer Masters 4th place

The enduro experience is much more than just a race. It's camping with old friends and making new ones, bench racing, comparing new trick parts, riding with your buddies, clowning around on the trail and comparing scrapes at the end.
But there IS the race, and the Competition Dirt Riders let us know that this year with an excellent enduro that tested the competitors without actually hurting them. Mauricetown is a quaint and picturesque and just a beautiful town on the banks of the Maurice river, it's also bottom land with a shallow water table. No rain in weeks in the Maurice river watershed, and a dry day in the high 70's and low 80's, made for a perfect trail and "on your toes" racing was what we got!
CDR served up a feast of fresh fast trails where you could get into a good strong rhythm and wick it up a notch, trails where you could almost see around the corner and rail the turns, trails where the surprises were just "OhMyG.., whew" and not the usual "OhSH.., Ooof". Of course this being south jersey, and having a reputation to live up to, the club also gave us two or three miles of tight, barkbusting, twisty U-turning, root churning trees to negotiate at 24 mph, but thankfully they delivered us that mess all at once, instead of breaking up the rhythm of the fun stuff on both sides of it. A very nice course layout, and a commendable job.
The club laid the trail out to accomodate rain, with several "SWAMP" sections that were barely damp. The dry conditions made for ideal trail, which was a true blessing for the club which is billed as an "easy" enduro. This enduro is the first for many an east coast enduro rider and is almost always the fondest memory, with great sweeping woods turns everywhere with very few surprises. It's hard to say enough nice things about this run. It's just the best enduro, and the most fun trail we have ridden all year. Some riders get surprised when they come out to what is advertised as an "easy" enduro, however. Two of our new riders DNF'ed (Did Not Finish) the day, but had a good time and went home still walking and talking and able to to grumble at their motorcyles. You just gotta love it. "Beehive will build your confidence, or make you shake your head at yourself, but very little in between" was commented by one rider looking at almost 30 score cards in the DNF box.

Along with several hundred other semi-normal people, we did our usual migrant farm worker style camping routine. Instead of the hilarious "Beehive or Bust" yellow school bus across the road, which I didn't get a picture of since I forgot I was a reporter, we unfolded the poop-up camper with the mini TV and Nintendo. Saturday afternoon was spent eating spaghetti, setting up bikes, and watching a tape from Baltimore area resident, Joe Warwick's helmet camera. It is the coolest trail video I've seen in a long time. It is the rider's eye view of the entire Broad Mountain 2000 enduro. The creek was high that year from recent rains and made for great footage. Joe shows you how to pass riders while attacking slimy roots and rocks, and demonstrated how to pick the worst line through a mud hole. Wanna see it? Contact Joe at harescrambles@aol.com and see if he has more copies. I got tired just watching!
After sunset it was joysticks and "Excite Bike" motocross action, interrupted by trail stories, and the brilliant idea of using our cellular phone to call District 7 rider Chris Rindone to come out and ride on a spare number we had paid for, but alas, even the pleading and begging of his wife to go couldn't get him off the couch. We'll probably have to break into his garage in the dead of night and put the first scratch in his new bike for him. We werent' the only ones having a good time, either. The Beehive drags them out of the woodwork, old and new enduro riders alike. Many many people have the honor of saying "The Beehive was my first enduro". One rider turned casually to me during the day and said "This is the only ride I come to, and I do it every year." I don't blame him a bit.
New Jersey's state troopers came out in force to cover the road crossings making for a very safe and enjoyable run. It's nice to see a cooperative effort, and a big "hat's off" to the Competition Dirt Riders club for working so hard to retain a beautiful trail system and a good relationship with the local populations.

Off to the Michaux enduro!!!
Southern Pennsylvania Enduro Riders - Sept 9 2001
Michaux State Forest
Hosted by the South Penn Enduro Riders
PO Box 836
Carlisle, PA 17013-0836
(717) 245-0353
http://communities.msn.com/southpennenduroriders

Then to the Delaware National Enduro Round 9 of the District 7 Championship Enduro Series
Delaware National Enduro - Oct 28 2001
Delaware City Delaware
Hosted by the Delaware enduro riders.
P.O. Box 25St. Georges, DE 19733
Newark, DE 19702
(302) 834-4411
http://members.home.net/delenduro

District 7 enduro riders, check your District 7 Enduro points!!!
http://www.enduro.4t.com
Trophy classes and points have changed since you last looked.
Call Chuck Marler if you have any questions or problems.

See you at the banquet, November 17th!!!

More information on these, and all the ECEA enduros, Hare Scrambles and more can be found at the

East Coast Enduro Association Web page

More information about A.M.A. District 7 can be found at the
Motorcycling Unlimited of A.M.A. District 7 home page

Go back to the Cycling East Archives page