Another Hometown Winner

| February 28, 2005
Trottlehead.com/Kawasaki Team Green’s Steve Hatch won the Desert Mountain National Enduro in Arizona this weekend, round two of the AMA/FMF National Enduro Series.

Hatch dropped 20 points on the day, two points better than both Matt Stavish and Mike Lafferty who finished second and third, respectively. The Honda-mounted Stavish edged KTM’s Lafferty on the tie-breakers to get the runner-up honors.

Hatch, who now lives in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, said, “The conditions today were just perfect. With all the rain we’ve had recently, you couldn’t ask for better riding conditions.

“I had a couple of problems with coming in on a couple of early checks, but I made up for it by staying out of trouble the rest of the day. I just missed checks four and six by a couple of seconds, but everybody else seemed to have the same problem.”

Having another good round of the National Enduro Series was Scandia, Minnesota resident Stavish who finished runner-up for the second week in a row. “I just had another good week,” Stavish said. “Usually, I struggle a little bit during the early rounds, but this year I seem to have everything worked out. It’s hard coming out here from Minnesota and being able to pick it up when there’s still snow on the ground back home.”

Rounding out the top five overall was previous-round winner Billy Russell and defending race champion David Lykke, both riding KTMs. Russell dropped 23 points and Lykke 24.

By Steve Berkner