On The Pegs May 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 | Page 62

On The Pegs 62 Still, Charlie had very little Enduro experience, which is very important. “Sumter is tight, but I grew up riding tight woods in Ohio,” said Charlie. “I also felt my strong suit, I could read trail pretty well, not knowing where I was going. I could just read the terrain pretty well and kind of just had a knack for it. So I think that kind of helped, too. Just being able to read the trail and ride tight woods. I think it all kind of helped.” That year was akso the year that Yamaha was pushing the WR for woods racing, so Whibley had to ride the WR. “I think there were some teething issues he had with the WR,” said Chalie. “Thankfully, since I was privateer, I wasn’t forced to ride the WR. I was able to ride the YZ. It was a really good bike. I know for the enduros, we actually used the WR transmission rather than the YZ. So I kind of had I guess a little bit of the WR. I liked the six-speed transmission for the enduros because I could ride basically the whole test in second or third gear. I wouldn’t have to shift at all, so that was nice.” The Cherokee National Enduro in Georgia was the next round and Charlie was in position to win that round, as well. “I should have won it, but, basically I made an error that cost me the win,” said Charlie. “There was an observations check in the middle of the woods. I think it was test two or three, and there was an OB check but I wasn’t really paying atten-