Melton Wins Little Harpeth National Enduro
MELTON WINS LITTLE HARPETH NATIONAL ENDURO
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The 1981 AMA National Enduro series was one third over before any rider could boast of more than one overall win to his credit. The three-way tie for top honors was broken at the Little Harpeth National run in Grinders Switch, Tenn., in early April. Surprise winner, and therefore early season points leader, was Mike Melton, a Georgia boy transplanted to Ohio to work for Husqvarna and ride with seven-time National Enduro Champion, Richard Burleson.
Burleson grabbed the season’s first overall win at the Coyote Derby Enduro in California. It looked like the beginning of a familiar scenario—Burleson by a mile. However, when the scene shifted to Melton’s home state for the March Stone Mountain Run, Melton showed he’s been taking in all of Burleson’s tips on how to ride in the woods. That was Melton’s firstever overall win at a national enduro. He liked how it felt.
Later in March at the New Jerseybased Forked River National, KTM’s Darryl Kuenzer got a taste of overall success, narrowly edging past Burleson in the process. He thought it tasted pretty sweet, also. Up to this point, the points were evenly divided.
When the third act of this drama unfolded at Grinders Switch, the conditions seemed to give the edge to Burleson. After all, he had lived and ridden in Tennessee for several years, had won this national before and then on Saturday came three inches of rain. Burleson loves bad weather!
Sunday, however, the script did not play out quite that way. Burleson was placed in a familiar starting position—first AA rider out—which gave him the added job of trail-breaker. Melton, who is not yet a AA class rider, drew a more desirable posi tion 30 rows back. He had the advantage of somewhat-cleared trails but was not hampered by bottlenecks that developed later in the run.
Besides that, the weather cleared off to a gorgeous spring day and the overly-dry ground quickly absorbed every ounce of moisture so that the only real trail obstacle was the underbrush that took advantage of all the added moisture to grow several inches overnight.
The final outcome was a clear-cut Melton win by 16 points over Burleson. In a day where point losses of 90 or more were common among the AA class, his 43 lost points were nothing short of incredible. >
His success many have some drawbacks in the future, however. He’ll guarantee himself a spot in the AA Class next season at this rate and he may find that Burleson won’t share any more riding secrets with him the remainder of the season.
—Brian and Ann Palormo
