Unfortunately there will not be a 2008 Midsouth Endurance Series
The Midsouth Endurance Series (MESS) kicked off bright and early on September 8th 2007 at Herb Parson's Lake in Fayette County, TN. The 2nd annual 6 Hours of Herb had 39 entrants and ran under threatening sky's after an early morning shower that actually help the dry and dusty trail conditions. The guys from Los Locos set the pace early with Boomer Leopold taking the $50.00 first lap prize followed closely by Russ Griffin and Cal Hill. Boomer and Russ would continue to lead the whole race, that ended with Russ by a wheel after 70 miles in 5:46:00 Brent Barrett was 3rd overall and 1st in the 40+ class with 10 laps in 5:58:02 followed by Scott Rogers with 10 laps in 6:37:25. The Ripper Clan's Jeff Barnes made a strong 3rd place showing with 9 laps in 6:00.24 We had a strong Women's field with Candy Wheeler never slowing down and taking the win with 10 laps (and 6th overall) besting the 9 laps from Laureen Coffelt and 8 laps from Jeanie Zelinski. The light single speed field had Paul Hart winning with 9 laps at 5:35:54 and Dennis Thatcher in 2nd.
The second race of the MESS was the 12 Hours of Stank on October 6th 2007 at Nesbit Park (Stanky Creek) in Bartlett. Results are up, remember the MESS points are age group based. Dustin Greer took the under 40 solo win with an impressive 15 laps. Scott Rogers put in a tough 13 laps to move into a tie with Brent Barrett in the over 40 class. Laureen Coffelt stepped up with a very strong 12 laps to move into a tie for first in the Midsouth Endurance series
The 3rd race of the MESS brought racing back to the trails at Lakeland TN finally with the first ever Lakeland 250 on October 21st 2007. The weather was perfect, the trail was perfect and the competition tough. Russ Griffin claimed the $50.00 fastest first lap prize followed closely by Dave Breslin from St Louis. Russ and Dave traded the lead several times during the race with Boomer Leopold holding down 3rd. Russ with- stood a hard last lap from Dave to take the win by 12 seconds after more than 4 hours of racing. Brent Barrett took 4th overall and 1st in 40+ Men followed by Ian Jones and Todd Wheeler. Only seven minutes separated 2nd through 5th in the 40+ race with Jason Pate holding off hamstring cramps to eek out a 4th place over Scott Rogers. The Singlespeed race saw Paul Hart take the win despite various mechanical problems. Wes Hale and Bill Wright took 2nd and 3rd in Singlespeed. Candy Wheeler from Tupelo, MS took the women's win with Laureen Coffelt only 3 minutes back. Laureen took a good spill on the first lap and never could make up the gap on Candy. Jeanie Zelinski, in her first year of racing mountain bikes, finished in 3rd place. Just to show how fast the women were, Candy Wheeler was 6th overall and Laureen was 8th overall!
Thanks for making the first Midsouth Endurance Series a success!!!
FORMAT: The MESS has no entry fee and will only count the best two out of three races.If you enter any two of the three MESS races you automatically qualify for the Midsouth Endurance Series. The classes are the same as the 6 Hours of Herb and the Lakeland 250 (Under 40, Over 40, Singlespeed and Women)
Points will be tabulated as follows: 1st place in class = ½ point, 2nd place = 2 points, 3rd place = 3 points, …21st place = 21 points. The series winner could have two 1st place finishes with a score of 1 point, thus giving an advantage to the racer that wins any given race. Any ties are determined by the placing in the last race, The Lakeland 250. The MESS awards are hand built trophies reminiscent of the old winter series trophies
Midsouth Endurance Series Points
RULES: The rider with the most laps in the least amount of time wins. There is a mandatory "stop" at the scoring tent every time a racer passes through. In case of any mechanical or emotional breakdowns that occur on the course, the rider will find his way back to the scoring tent and inform the race officials of what has happened. The racer may start then that lap over after the repair and after checking back in with the race officials. Any cutting of the course (unless covered by the above situation) will be an automatic DQ.
PRIZES: The 6 Hours of Herb and Lakeland 250 combined will have $1500.00 cash to the class winners and over $2000.00 worth of merchandise randomly given away. We will have a raffle for a Easton Disk Wheelset valued at $700.00 to be awarded at the final race. Here's a prize list as of now:
1 Easton XC Disc Wheelset (to be raffled off)
1 Easton Monkeylite 31.8 handlebar
1 Easton EC70 straight carbon bar 31.8
2 pairs of Sidi Dominators Shoes
4 Blackburn Mountain air pumps
4 Blackburn Shorty pumps
2 Blackburn Air tower floor pumps
4 Blackburn air fix quickfills
4 Blackburn Toolmanators
4 Bell Influx MTB helmets
1 Ciclosport CM404 bike computer
1 Ciclosport CM423 Heart rate monitor/bike computer
2 Niterider Ultrafazer 3.0 bike lights
1 Niterider Ultrafazer 5.0 bike light
1 Niterider Ultrafazer Max bike light
1 Niterider MiNewt LED bike light
1000 (or so) Sport legs, a few gallons of Butt Butter, a Cadillac Eldorado and a bunch of first aid kits.