The 27th Annual Straight Arrow Enduro

Who would have thought that 80+ miles of fun, face slapper free trails with those sections of rolling jeep roads could bring only 105 riders to start the traditionally tough Straight Arrow Enduro. Not the club. With 85 trophies available riders like Mike Martin, David MacAdams, Todd Rosen, and Johnny Thomas simply had to show up to take their first place trophy uncontested. To be fair Martin had a 7, Thomas had a 21, And MacAdams had a 29. High point was Michael Grizzle with a 2 followed by Tommy Veator with a 4.     Fun was the word heard around the scoring table by club members as riders came in with their scorecards. Faces streaked with sweat over dust could not hide the smiles. The scooters looked as though they never started an event - short of what the air filter looked like to be sure. Richloam can get very nasty as most of the veterans know. A little rain would have made it a heavenly ride, more than say 3 inches would have made it hell. We take what we can get. That's racing, too bad so many Enduro Series riders missed out.     I took Thursday and Saturday to run most of the trail at speed. Scores of workers had already been out marking stumps and cutting out the face slappers (thank you Jack) by the time I set out Saturday. The club was worn to a frazzle from the series of weekends before the event and the weekends of the Hare Scramble the previous month. Not enough can be said about the people that made it all happen without even a hitch.     Make a note other clubs, even with the great number of CFTR members, two consecutive months of events is quite a load.     The largest class of the day was Super Senior B with a field of eleven riders. Taking his first win of the season in the class was Bob Wilcox. Sportsman Open had a field of five riders with Mike Smith taking the win carding a seventeen in the first half. Sportsman 0-200 had no riders which means you could have shown up, ridden to first place in your first Enduro, and be on your way to be promoted out, all in one day!     Central Florida Trail riders would like to take a moment to commemorate long time member Randy Stone. Randy's efforts to secure smooth communication and permits with the Forest Service throughout the past several years has been a major contribution to the club's success at Richloam. Thank you Randy. Lane Sheppard