2008 AMA FMF National Enduro Championship Final

The 2008 AMA FMF National Enduro series came to a conclusion on Sunday, October 19th near Wickenburg Arizona. Russell Bobbit came into the final with an eleven point lead in the championship only needing to finish 3rd or better if his Red Bull KTM teammate Mike Lafferty won. Lafferty did his part and it appeared in the early going that Bobbit was struggling with the fast, rocky Arizona terrain as he ran as far back as seventh. Cole Kirkpatrick, Derek Mahoney, Quinn Cody, Steve Hatch, Ty Davis and Jordan Brandt were among those that separated the friendly rivals in the early going but Bobbit picked it up near the end to work his way into second position. The final results for the event had Mike Lafferty taking the win followed by Russell Bobbit, Cole Kirkpatrick, Derek Mahoney and Quinn Cody. Bobbit's second position was enough to edge out Lafferty for the 2009 Championship.

Team Dirt Rider was on hand for the event doing a little comparison testing on the 2009 KTM 400 XCW and 200 XCW, 4-stroke versus 2-stroke. Yours truly (Publisher, Sean Finley) and Art Director Joe McKimmy were at the controls of the two bikes respectively. Look for a story in Dirt Rider soon for the results.

We can't say enough for what a great job the NEPG did with this event in cooperation with the Off Camber Motorcycle Club. Competing in my first ever Enduro, I can tell you that it is a really great group of people putting the series on with a lot of really friendly participants and fans at the events as well. Great effort is put into using single track trail with fun, yet challenging terrain and the easier to understand scoring system adopted last season makes it easier to compete without worrying about time keeping. If you like riding good trails, you should definitely give an Enduro a try. You can find out more information about the AMA FMF National Enduro series at www.nationalenduro.com.