| Event Review - Greenbrier Enduro 2002 |
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Greenbriar Enduro Report
The 2001 Greenbriar Enduro,
April 7, 2002
Freddy RULES!!
Hosted by the Tri-County Sportsmen M.C. in the Belleplain State Forest,
New Jersey.
Overall Champions
GRAND CHAMPION OVERALL Fred Hoess
HI-POINT A Mike McHale
HI POINT B Gerald H. Ringles 3rd
HI POINT C Keith Millett
Class Champions
AA--Fred Hoess
A-125--Rob Converse Jr.
A-200--Mike Sigety
A-250--Brian Carden
A-OPEN-Mike McHale
A-4STK. LIGHT--Rob Comber
A-4STK. HEAVY--Bob Bennett
A-VET--Dave Maco
A-SR.--Brian Blanchard
A-SSR.--Scott Wolfersberger
B-125--Chase Compton
B-200--Mario DePalma
B-250--Gerald Ringles III
B-OPEN--Troy McNomee
B-4 STK. LIGHT--Jim Tevis
B-4STK. HEAVY--Daniel (Griff) Drew
B-VET--Michael Muckleston
B-SR. Dough Allen
B-SSR.--Lewis Newmen
C-200--Dave Randazzo
C-250--Randy Sharpless
C-OPEN--Jim Hanlon
C-4STK. LIGHT--Keithe Millett
C-4STK. HEAVY--Paul Whilden
C-VET--Tim Mauro
C-SR--Chuck Hunter
WOMENS--Lisa Arsenault
MASTERS--George Clickner
Most notably home of Jack Lafferty Sr. and several National enduro
champions, including his sons, Rich Lafferty, Mike Lafferty and Jack
Lafferty, who is anything but Junior, Tri-County M.C.
http://www.teamhammer.org is well known for having one of the toughest
enduros on the east coast circuit.
In recent years past, the club has
hosted races in the National A.M.A. Enduro circuit Having had miserable
weather for the past three years for the event, this year the weather
was perfect, the trails were perfect, the checks were perfect, the
resets were perfect. Damn near everything was perfect.
Fred Hoess,
Central Jersey competition riders and NEW OWNER of Pacemaker enduro
computers http://www.pingear.com/pacehome.htm came out and kicked MAJOR
ass, proving once again that he is the force to be reckoned with on the
East Coast enduro circuit. Of course, we give all the credit to his
PACEMAKER enduro computer. Fred has been attending the GNCC and
National enduro series events, along with working hard on the new
upgrades to the pacemaker enduro computer lineup and has been distracted
from the ECEA series a little, but it appears he had a point to make at
Greenbrier, which he did with a vengeance.
Aaron Kopp bested the field
last year in 2001 with a broken foot, winning handily and going on to
win the overall ECEA championship for 2001. This year, Aaron showed up
healthy and ready pull it off again, only to be forced to second place
honors, beaten by three minutes by Fred Hoess, 2000 ECEA champ with a
score of only 22 points, taking home 1st place Grand Champion honors.
Craig Shenigo, 2001 District 7 Enduro Grand Champion dropped only 27
points to take home third overall, and 2000 District 7 Enduro Grand
Champion Mike Sigety, dropped 39 points on the day to bring home a class
win in A-200. Congratulations Mike!
District 7 riders Griff Drew
(B-4-stroke-heavy) and Troy McNomee (B-Open) were out for BLOOD,
bringing home class wins each, in their first years after being advanced
to B-Class enduro. New C-Sr rider Chris Borger finished this event, his
third, but just out of trophy range, and deserves a mention in this
article since he's started this year under the guidance of us weenie
riders, and has been promoted to "Iron-man" status in our little group.
This weekend, we got the privilege of riding on the same minute as Lisa
Arsenault, who won the women's class at Greenbriar, despite having a bit
of cable troubles and brain fade after the long test sections after
check #2. Lisa is the latest up and coming women's class contender, and
a fast rider. Finishing 16th in the 2001 ECEA series she has worked
hard in the off season and from the looks of things, she is going to be
a force to be reckoned with in the 2002 ECEA series for June Van Driel
and Merle Compton, both of whom have been looking to dominate the
women's class this year. Lisa has pulled off first place wins in all of
the first three events this year and is continuing to improve.
This was an EXCELLENT run of the Greenbriar enduro. Fantastic trails,
well groomed, well arrowed, and the club had people at every single
hazard to help. Great trails, with everything from whoops, to sweeping
woods trails, to tight ignorant trees, scary uphills and downhills, and
even an ISDE style grass track at the finish made for a fantastic day of
riding for those who finished.
The Greenbrier (or Greenbriar, depending
on which sheet of paper you look at) is always a challenging enduro, and
the C class riders got to ride a shortened course. Another lucky thing
for all of us was the gas stop, which on top of having a nice healthy
reset to give everyone a well deserved rest break, was at a remote
location and not back at the campground so it made it difficult to give
in to the temptation to quit.
I can't say enough good things about this
event.
In contrast to the Sandy Lane enduro, where the club laid out
the course and checkpoints to easily introduce new riders to the sport
and timekeeping, Tri-County had a check in/check out format with two
easy checks which were the perfect addition to the course. Easy checks
are "timekeeping" checks, where every rider in the event is expected to
be able to maintain the posted mile per hour speed average and should
arrive at the check on time. Riders are forced to check their computers
or rollcharts and ride the posted speed average.
After a morning of
hard riding as fast as you could go, a late checkout and a healthy
reset, riding slower was hard to manage for many riders as they
neglected to note the slow mph average upon entering what the club aptly
named "The back door to HELL" which was 6 mph for 3 tenths of a mile.
Mileage and keytimes were spot on for check #7, where there were plenty
of complaints. Enduro riders who failed to time keep properly did not
like having to take the 2 point penalty for being early to the
checkpoint, much less having to endure the mirth of the check crew
workers who were getting a tickle out of "burning" riders who wasted all
that high priced computer equipment on their handlebars.
Tri-County did
an excellent job placing two time keeping checks, and couldn't have made
it more obvious with the 6mph speed average. Slow speed averages brought
reminiscences about the days when the check in's were buried deep into
the section or the speed averages were rideable and you spent most of
the day sniffing around turns and peeking through bushes every 3 tenths
of a mile.
This year was no exception in excellence, with the club promising long
sections and plenty of good rideable trail miles, and was once again a
great event to ride and test your metal. Three long points taking
sections of good solid trail, with a couple of miles of first gear tight
trees in each.
About mile 40 it got lonely until a pack of riders
caught up to me followed the blind old codger as he lost the trail in
the hill section. It was kind of funny as they all followed me into the
brush and we all turned around to see a rider with a "W" on his number
plate. This usually means a "course worker" so I yelled at him "Hey,
where's the trail!" He yelled back "Hell, I don't know, I'm not a club
member, I'm a reporter!". It made for some great grins all in all.
The
event had well placed checkpoints and lively check crews that showed the
grand spirit of this club with folks helping out at the tough spots,
good sweep crews guiding exhausted riders back to paved roads and camp,
and an honest effort at making sure everyone had a fun day!
The club and
trail boss worked hard laying out and grooming a good rideable trail and
and it showed. And of course, Greenbrier wouldn't be Greenbrier without
the obligatory toilet seat over the "DNF" box. I love that touch. It
adds a bit of irony to the event, and I hope the club never loses the
spirit that makes Tri-County the yardstick to measure yourself against.
Thanks Tri-County for more great memories!
They certainly have the
trail and club to support a first class National Enduro, and we hope for
a Greenbrier National Enduro next year.
Tri-County Sportsmen respectfully requests, "Please not ride in the
forest except for the events the club hosts on it's website
http://www.teamhammer.org, as it jeopardizes all of our right to ride."
So we have three enduros under our belt in the 2001 Championship Series
this season and it is shaping up into a very exciting year. District 7
Championship Enduro Series season Points will be available on the
website http://www.enduro.4t.com at mid season. See you at Pine
Hill!!!!
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