ON YOUR MINUTE, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE ECEA
2023 ECEA Enduro Round 3 - Sandy Lane
Sandy Lane is like no other race on the ECEA schedule. For any other race you can make a comparison. Beehive is like Greenbriar, Foggy Mountain is like Michaux, Ithaca Sprint Enduro is like Ridge Rider’s Sprint Enduro. But Sandy Lane is “like” nothing else. Open flowing fire cuts, super tight woods, miles of stick farms and some super fun fast rolling single track and that is just one section! Hell, in this race, you can see all of that in 500 feet. Sandy Lane is the enduro version of a “Psychological Thriller”. During this enduro you will go through every human emotion… laugh, cry, rage and delight in equal doses and sometimes all at once! There are places in this race where you look off in the distance and you would think you are on some small non inhabited volcanic island. Heaven to Hell and everything in between.
Riders racing through the 8-mile A/B split found themselves shouting 4 letter words at trees, other riders, small animals and members of MMC. It was tight. That section was followed by one of the finest, fastest flowing sections we saw so far this season. Then more tight single track and stick farms, some sand, some flow, some fire cuts and everything in between. Sandy Lane will throw it all at you and often all at once.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather for this time of year, or any time of year for that matter. It was close to perfect, not hot, not cold, full sunshine and no wind. For those of us who froze last week at Curley Fern this was Heaven. Most of us were shedding layers after the first section and there was no shivering at the lunch stop this week. Meteor MC has their act together. These guys have been doing this for a long time and it shows. The organization, course layout and club support was top notch. I met an MMC member at the starting line who has been a member of the club for over 50 years and he was loving telling stories and was proud of this race, and his club, as he should be.
Tegan Temple (KTM) finished the day with the overall win. Kyle McDonal (Beta) came in second and Justin Lafferty (KTM) was on the podium finishing in 3 d overall.
Doug Allen (Gas) took the overall in A class for the second race in a row. William Holmes (KTM) took the overall in B class Justin McKenzie (Beta) took the overall in C class for the second race in a row. Kerri Shank (Husq) took first in Women’s class for the second time this year Hank Knabe (KTM) took First in Masters Class Bill Atherholt (KTM) took first in Golden Class for the second week in a row And Don Kirkpatrick (KTM) brought home first in The Legends Class for the second time this year.
Lastly, A big thank you from all of us riders to the dedicated members of MMC for keeping this event alive and true to form. MMC is an old school club with an old school enduro. Sandy Lane remains one of a kind.
See you all next week at Pine Hill - Pig Pen
Photos in this article provided by Barry Seppy
