Little Burr Enduro

Little Burr Enduro

Enduro Riders Association

ACES Round 5

McArthur, Ohio

August 14, 2011

“Klamfoth Snags the Burr”

By: Steve Wheeler

Photos: Steve Wheeler

The 2011 Appalachian Championship Enduro Series returned from an eight week summer break, finally getting relief from the weather as the riders were treated to dry conditions and moderate temperatures for the first time this season. The ERA crew put together a long course with fast, flowing trails just in case Ohio weather would deal the riders another tough hand with extreme heat or heavy rain.

Lately, ACES has been getting the attention of some of the AA national guys and at this round KTM pilot Zach Klamfoth, dropping only four points (two hot), claimed the win over KTM’s Josh Gaitten and the GasGas of Robbie Jenks. Klamfoth and Gaitten were tied through the first seven checks, with Jenks and southern Ohio journeyman Rodney Judson’s Beta stalking only one point back. At checks 8 and 10, Klamfoth bested his competitors by a point as he began to position himself for the win although he nearly let them back in the hunt, burning an out check that caught him off guard in a section of fly trail. Klamfoth regained his composure and zeroed the final three checks while his competitors all dropped one.

Overall A champion Jeff Anderson (Hon) was the last rider in single digits, dropping nine points to claim the honor for the second time this season and making it a perfect three for three in his limited engagement in the Vet A class. In other A class action, Mike Molnar (KTM) ended Travis Bidwell’s (KTM) bid for a perfect season in the 200 A class chipping away at his points lead and Cary Eberts hitched his KTM to Klamfoth to take the 250 A class and increase his one point margin in the standings over the KTM of Mark McGrath who suffered a rare DNF.

Cody Meeks (KTM) is the only rider to have a perfect season intact and the young KTM pilot also claimed his third Overall B award for the year, continuing his bid for the series B championship. Robert Gorst piloted a 300 KTM to the Senior B class win, not that impressive considering he normally competes on a KTM 640 Adventure and has been known to ride that bike to the event, compete, and ride home. Something about Gorst isn’t right, since the first 4 rounds were mud fests with many DNF’s (not Gorst though), but he chooses to ride a 300 in the most forgiving conditions of the season. It was good to see CERA club members Trent Gardner (KTM) and Nick Fisher (KTM) battling it out in the Vet B class after putting much time and energy into laying out two enduros this spring. Yamaha pilot Chris Ray won the class but the battle for club bragging rights goes to Gardner who took second place by a margin of 27 seconds over Fisher.

Vinnie Petrella’s efforts in the Schoolboy C class have been as impressive this season, winning 4 out of 5 events with scores that would put him at or near the top of the B class. Today, Vinnie would have won the B class and actually finished 14th overall. The 16 year old Petrella competes in the events along with his stepfather Chuck Freeze and fellow Point View Cycles riders Billy Farmer and Mark Lederle. Petrella grew up competing in CRA hare scrambles and has quickly taken to enduros. It will be interesting to see how he fares when the NEPG comes to town for ACES Round 6 at the Zanesville Trail Riders’ Big Muskie National Enduro on August 28th.

The Appalachian Championship Enduro Series (ACES) is a traditional format enduro series in southern Ohio and our 2011 season continues August 28th at the Big Muskie Enduro National Enduro in Chandlersville , Ohio. We would like to thank the following sponsors for contributing to the growth of our series and supporting our riders: Osburn Signs, KTM, Husqvarna, EVS, Enduro Engineering, EBC, SCOTT, KENDA, MSR, T&E News, Point View Cycles, Smith’s Power Sports, Caton’s Cycle Center, Sport Cycles, Wheelsports, JM Cycles and Ohio Motorcycle.

Overall: Zach Klamfoth (KTM) Overall A: Jeff Anderson (Hon) Overall B: Cody Meeks (KTM)

AA 1. Z. Klamfoth (KTM); 2. J. Gaitten (KTM); 3. R. Jenks (GG); 4. R. Judson (Beta); 5. T. Kline (KTM)

200A: 1. M. Molnar (KTM); 2. N. Bidwell (KTM)

250A: 1. C. Eberts (KTM); 2. T. Chadwell (KTM); 3. R. Cherry (Yam); 4. M. McGrath (KTM)

Open A: 1. B. Rickard (KTM)

Vet A: 1. J. Anderson (Hon); 2,B. Hollingshead (KTM); 3. M. Kehlmeier (Hsb); 4. K. Vermillion (Kaw); 5. K. George (Suz)

Sr. A: 1. W Perdue (KTM); 2. M. VanCise (Yam); 3. T. Ghearing (KTM); 4. J. Johnson (Yam); 5. E. Houck (Hsq)

SSr. A: 1. S. Klamfoth (KTM); 2. R. Nichols (KTM); 3. J. Kalleker (KTM); 4. R. Lanning (KTM); 5. M. Lederle (KTM)

200B: 1. C. Meeks (KTM); 2. J. Osburn (KTM); 3. B. Graves (KTM)

250 B: 1. A. Matheny (Hon); 2. Z. Thomas (GG); 3. B. Geyer (KTM); 4. C. Kight (Kaw); 5. C. Campbell (KTM)

Open B: 1. G. Smith (KTM)

Vet B: 1. C. Ray (Yam); 2. T. Gardner (KTM); 3. N. Fisher (KTM); 4. J. Holter (KTM); 5. G. Kalwasinski (KTM)

Sr. B: 1. R. Gorst (KTM); 2. M. Best (KTM); 3. J. Miller (Yam); 4. K. Matheny (KTM); 5. D. Clerici (KTM)

SSr. B: 1. R. Valdman (KTM); 2. M. Branham (Hon); 3. W. Collins (KTM); 4. M. Eickholt (KTM)

Masters: 1. M. Popp (KTM)

125-Open C: 1. M. Raffel (Hon); 2. A. clark (KTM); 3. T. Thompson (KTM) ; 4. J. Shellhous (Suz); 5. N. Bowe (KTM)

Schoolboy C: 1. V. Petrella (KTM); 2. L. Exline (KTM); 3. C. Hudnall (KTM); 4. L. Mullins (Hon); 5. J. McManis (Kaw)