Brian Niehaus
takes the overall, but Moss holds on to District 22 points lead.
Bitter End Enduro
IERA / District 17 & 22 / Moose
Enduro Series
Morrison, Illinois - November 2, 2003
Overall Class
Winners: A: Brian Niehaus 19 (AA); B:
Jonathon Bush 50 (Vet B); C: Steven Rees 74
Top five
winners in each class (excluding overall winners): AA: Ryan Moss 23, Kevin Dimond
27, Scott Hofman 29, Kirk Foster 31, Gary Barber 54; 200A: John Ryan 49,
Kelly Dimond 67, Daniel Ryan 68, William Hardesty 79; 250A: Charlie
Eller 36, Scott Porter 41, Ben Shafer 44, Mark Davis 49; Open A: Tom
Farris 40; Dave Edsall 46; Randy Gregerson 70, Jeff Goss 71, John Weber 125; 200B:
Brad Bush 75; Eric Neu 208, Brian Flaig 1/5, Richard Brereton 2/2; Stan
Szlachciuk 3/1; 250B: Brian Richlen 64, Nathan Thompson 95; Tobin Miller
133, Chris Boyce 133, Daniel Herried 175; Open B, Terry Venteicher 73;
Jonathon Strueck 86; Tom Elliott 192; Brad Holder 1/2; Ron Pohlman 2/2; Vet
A: Dave Montgomery 49, Andrew Jensen 95, Dale Kelter ck 2; Senior A:
Wally Mika 61, John Dricken 62, Larry Crosby 65, Duane Eller 68, Timothy Graf
82; Super Senior A, Steve Hardine 189, Robert Kau II 1/4, Dennis Barr
2/4, Richard Mertes 2/3, Steve Pawlak 4/3; 4 Stroke: Jake Goldberg 181; Vet
B: Jonathan Bush 50, Roger Devore 132, Danny Zaeske 1/4, Laine Stevens 2/3,
Tim Slamans 3/1; Senior B: Jakc Drummond 113, William Severance 120,
Jeff Manley 123, James Cunningham 1/ 4, Joe French 2/4; Golden Master:
Ray Poston 190, Veryl Shaw ck 2; C: Evan Barski 133, Alan Leigh 183,
Matt Smoczynski 1/4, Edward Stoll 2/4, Brian Fowler 3/3.
Generally known as a friendly and fun end to the
riding season, the Bitter End Enduro provides more entertainment that pruning a
hamster. Well, actually, it’s a lot
more fun than that. Sure, you have
aggressive time keeping duties, but the terrain in western Illinois generates
more fun than fear. Did I hear you like mud? Well add a week of driving rain;
temperatures in the 40s and drizzle throughout the event and you have the most
challenging enduro course of the season.
Nothing but slippery mud, cold and gutted trail faced the riders.
The course started out with about two miles through
plowed cornfields. Not a big deal you
say? Try this after 10 inches of rain
and you have one seriously dangerous piece of terrain. As riders finally approached the first
section, the arrows vanished.
Participants were everywhere.
Some went south, others north, but the trail simply vaporized. I followed what looked like an entrance into
the woods and lost Ed Stoll and Mike Hockstein, who started on my minute. I followed the trail for about 200 yards
before seeing the first arrow. Usually
this would be good news, but not so today.
Under said arrow was a KTM blocking the trail by dangling precariously
over a 10-foot lip ending in a creek.
Several of us tried to help, but it was so flipping slippery that
progress was slow. After several
minutes, we finally dislodged the offending bike and all were able to
proceed. During that time, not one bike
came in behind us. Undoubtedly, the
traffic instead headed around this greasy section and, luckily for them,
rejoined the trail later.
Things generally went from bad to worse after
this. The entire first section was
slippery and slimy. The trick to riding
in such conditions isn’t complicated: move fast. That allows the mud to be flung off your tires and lets the bike
regain traction. Fail to move fast and you’re left with two tread-less racing
slicks. But riding this way also takes gigantimous kahonies. Make a mistake and you’re married to the
Illinois flora.
Remember that a whopping 114 people started this
event, but that only 51 finished without houring out. This race sent a lot of riders home at half time.
District 17 hotshot Brian Niehaus took the overall
by picking up a painfully low score 19.
District 22 points leader Ryan Moss followed closely with only 23
points.
|
Two friendly Brushpoppers |
Most riders, along with Ryan, missed the first short
section mentioned before due to the lack of arrows. Ryan recalls everyone riding around looking for the route. Ryan spotted the arrows, but then saw
another rider heading through a separate opening in an old fence. Ryan followed and, much to his amazement,
sees old fence posts start popping out of the ground behind the rider. Ryan skidded in and yelled to the poor guy
in a failed effort to warn him of impending doom. This came too late as the fence locked the rider’s rear wheel and
launched him over the handlebars. Ryan
said it was like something out of movie with fence posts coming in for attack
and then the guy getting puked off his ride onto the ground.
|
250A Rider Mark Davis - Pre-Race of course |
The first lengthy section after that was about 10
miles in length. Because it was the
first section, no one went early. A
mistake, as Ryan noted, because the first check appeared at a point over two
miles later. Due to the almost
continuous drizzle, the trail was particularly slippery. Notwithstanding a few
bottlenecks, Ryan lost only one minute with Brian Neihaus zeroing the
check. By the end, Ryan checked out
with 8 minutes losing one point to Brian who ended with seven. The remaining AAs, including Scott Hofmann
and newbie AA Kevin Dimond, came out with 10s and 11s.
The section ended with the gas stop following the
first loop. I remember thinking “this
is unpleasant,” but I could do it again. My goggles were trashed, so I opted
for safety glasses. The good people at Red Bull were present chucking out their
patented endurance beverage to passing riders and many continued on, fortified
with the elixir. But the second half
was no repeat of the first. The rain
started coming down in sheets and the trial turned to ice. To make matters worse, the initial trail was
completely off camber and the freaking speed average kicked up to 30 MPH. The only redeeming feature was the lack of
an out-check. The checkers likely
bolted figuring no rider would actually make it that far.
The next road section was lengthy and provided some
opportunity to catch up. But the cold
drizzle greatly reduced visibility. The
next wooded section ran at 18 mph. Not
slow enough for most, however. Ryan
Moss took a good roosting from a fellow rider that scorched his goggles causing
a brief rest stop for clean up. Brian
Neihaus was again, per Ryan, the fast man coming out with about 2:20. Dimond followed with 2:50 and Ryan snuck out
at 3:05 at the emergency check. Scott
Hofmann came out on a 3 with most other AAs picking up 5s. According to Ryan, Brian was the guy to beat
in these unfavorable conditions.
After that section, the god-awful average shot up to
an unattainable 30 mph for the next 10 mile patch. According to Ryan, this
section doubles as a hare scrambles course and it showed. The trail was wide and well used. The slippery and ice-like conditions
continued. Although I don’t share his
view, Ryan claims this was one of the most fun sections of the day. Among other problems, it contained a rather
nasty crossing over a rain swollen creek.
A club member held vigil there and provided instruction regarding proper
line. I recall launching across the
“approved route” and dropping into about four feet of water. The brown water poured over my tank I
expected a stall. But instead the
little KTM kept running and I was able to walk it out. Prior to this, mind you, I had remained
largely dry. The combination of Fox
enduro jacket and Moose XCR gear kept me effectively safe. That all ended at this crossing.
Both Brian and Ryan emerged from the section with
seven points. Kevin and Scott followed
closely by losing 8 minutes. Everyone
else concluded in the tens.
A checker assured me that the experience was nearly
overly over but instead, the course continued through several short woods sections. All completely greased over at this
point. Brian and Ryan continued to tie
by dropping only 1 point. Kevin and
Scott again followed with two points added.
In the end, however, Brian came out on top.
Imagining what these rainy and cold conditions would
have done to the Iowa enduros in Stratford or Bartlett is enough to cause
multiple sleepless nights. We’re all
lucky it happened at Morrison instead.
And the club really stepped up.
When we early risers got there, we all parked in a cornfield. By race end, that same field turned into a
mud-buggy run. Had it not been for the
generous aid of a Brushpopper with a really big farm tractor, many of us would
still be there. And while enduros are
not particularly amazing spectator events, those racers attempting to leave the
field, in their various SUVs and RVs, without the aid of the tractor, provided
a great deal of viewing pleasure for those in attendance. Ryan, in particular, thanks the club for
hauling his rig out of the muck.
|
The grand awards ceremony |
So at the end, Brian Niehaus battled with Ryan Moss
and came out on top. Ryan Moss finishes
the 2003 season in first place in the District 22 enduro series. He took the
overall at Winterset and came in second at Fremont, Stratford and Bartlett. As
for this race, the Brushpoppers put on an exemplary event and were about as
friendly as dirt bikers get. No small
praise to be sure.
Eric
Neu
Carroll, Iowa