1981 Dick Burleson Enduro King Richard- 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1981 Dick Burleson Enduro King Richard- 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage motorcycle advertisement / article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm)
Condition: Good
NATIONAL EDURO WRAP-UP
Dick Burleson once again topped the
best. Here he is shown attacking a sandy turn.
A broken wrist plagued Drew Smith all year. He hopes to heal in the off-season and
go for it in '81.
totype Hot Grips. Not a bad idea con-
sidering that the wind’s chill factor
was enough to make an Eskimo shiver.
Dropping 40 points, he literally
stomped on the competition. The
closest anyone came was newly signed
Terry Cunningham on a Husky. His
point total was 46; not too shabby—it
was his first race on the Swedish
marque.
Burleson continued his winning
ways in Virginia, taking overall and a
commanding lead in the points run.
Oregon marked the spot for round
Burleson’s
Stranglehold
Continues
By Tom Webb
The election is over, all the votes
have been counted, and, for the
seventh straight year, Dick Burleson
has been reelected as the top enduro
rider in the country. The election re-
sults were grim; the King won by a
landslide. While the overthrow of his
reign was predicted a certainty, only
Dick remained calm. Oddsmakers
were sure that young upstart rebels,
such as Johnny Martin and Drew
Smith, were a shoe-in to upstage the
King. Both had come on strong in the
latter part of ’79; besides, Burleson
had almost ten years on most of the
competition.
Well, folks, it wasn’t even close. In
the 12-event series, the King won an
amazing six races overall. He’d won
the title with three rounds remaining.
Round one started in the California
desert. Hosted by the Chaparrals, the
run was a three-loop, 150-mile affair.
Eastern riders going for the National
Championship had to make the trip.
With only 12 events, they couldn’t af-
ford to miss it, whether they liked the
desert or not.
Yamaha’s Mike Hannon took the
overall win for the umpteenth year in a
row. To our knowledge, Mike has won
every National Enduro held in the des-
ert for the last several years, barring
disqualification. Second overall went
to Rick Munyon, also aboard a Yam-
aha. Dick Burleson copped third,
proving that Easterners could cope
with riding in treeless terrain.
Factory Honda rider Mike Godfrey
garnered fourth, while high-point A
honors and fifth overall went to Tom
Webb. (Cheap plug!) In the top ten
positions, Dick Burleson and John
Martin were the only representatives
from the east.
The second and third rounds were
taken by Burleson. At Stone Moun-
tain, the temperature never got above
freezing. This is where Burleson
showed part of the cunningness that
has made him the National Champ.
He equipped his bike with a set of pro-
Cunningham is definitely a threat.
four, and Kawasaki’s Kevin LaVoie
gave Team Green their first big win of
the year. The run was plagued with
misplaced checks (set in free territory)
and speed averages that all AA riders
felt were too slow. Terrain was great,
but the club needed to work a little on
better check placement and faster av-
erages.
Suzuki’s Randy Martin finished sec-
ond, coming out on top of a three-way
tie with Dick Burleson and Tony Clon-
iger. The top four dropped only one
point, with numbers five through ten
all tying with two-point losses. After
the tie-breakers, it went thusly: Ted
Leimbach, J. Martin, J. Fero, Wor-
rell, Webb and Roeseler.
Minnesota’s National turned into
Burleson’s third win out of five races.
Total points for the year stood at 132
for Dick, his nearest competition
being Mike Hannon whose total was
81. A 51 -point lead for Dick after only
five rounds!
Coming close to his first-ever na-
tional win was Suzuki’s Randy Mar-
tin. He carded a ten-point loss, same
as Dick, but Burleson edged him out
on the tie-breakers. Ted Worrell and
Darrell Kuenzer both dropped 11,
while Terry Cunningham and Yam-
aha’s John Fero slid in with scores of
twelve.
KTM-sponsored Darrell Kuenzer...
16685-AL-8102-22 RL- mb3336-8102-22