Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/757317
Zink Ranch Enduro - October 23, 2016 Oklahoma By Jeff Debell e Tulsa Trail Riders hosted the fi nal round of the 2016 Kenda AMA Nation- al Enduro Series at the John Zink Ranch near Skiatook, Oklahoma, site of the 1994 ISDE. KTM's Russell Bobbitt came into the fi nal round leading the series, needing only a good and safe result to secure the national championship, but there were plenty of Pro class riders itching for the chance to make an 11th hour title steal. e TTR club has a ton of experience running national and Blackjack Enduro Series events at the Ranch, and nearly all the senior members served in some capacity at the 94 Six Days. ey always go the extra mile, and this weekend's event was no diff erent. e weath- er cooperated with race day temperatures in the 60s and 70s, plenty of sun and a moderate wind to keep the dust down on the notoriously rocky and silty trails. e KTM and Husqvarna factories were there in force off ering Saturday test rides on their 2017 off erings, and Moose Off -Road and Kenda both had semi trailers and huge displays for those in need of last minute accessory or rubber upgrades. Eight-time national enduro champion Mike Laff erty ran the KTM test rides, and eight- time national enduro champion Dick Burleson staff ed the Moose trailer on Sat- urday before riding the 60+ class on Sun- day. I got Junior to autograph an event t-shirt for me and then had King Richard do the same. ey are good friends, but Dick said it took Junior a lot longer to get his 8 titles....Dick did his "the hard way", eight in a row. Good friends, but competitors to the end. Sunday's 63-mile course included 7 timed special tests totalling just over 42 miles, the remainder being transfer section miles. e Tulsa boys laid out a great course which started with the fi rst special test, a 3.1 mile grass track. Fire your engine up, watch for your row number to fl ash, and you were off to the races, literally. e Pro riders start on row 30 and up, and watching them navigate the grass track is a real treat. ose boys were really hauling the mail, on the throttle til the last possible moment, braking hard, and then on it hard again to the next turn. On the straightaways the four-strokers were hitting the rev limiters and their shi s were so fl awless you'd swear they were running automatic transmissions. Abso- lutely incredible to watch and hear. Jesse Groemm (KTM) set the pace in the fi rst test posting a 5 minute 56.342 second time. e NEPG had to start timing the test in milliseconds because these guys are all so close...second place through the test, less than a half second behind, was Ian Blythe (KTM) with Cory Buttrick (KTM) two tenths of a second behind for third. Air Group Husqvarna pro Andrew DeLong "had a bad test" according to his mechanic, as he fell twice, yet he was only 7 seconds off of Groemm's 26 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com