On The Pegs May 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 | Page 60

On The Pegs
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ome years are reletively uneventful when it comes to motorsports racing, and
in fact, some are very predictable. However, 2010 will always be a special year in
AMA National Enduro history for several reason.
Charlie Mullins won the title that year, which no one expected, not even Char-
lie, since his intention was to ride the first round of the Enduro series just as a
warmup for the opening round of the GNCC series, which were both held at
sandy venues.
Reason #2 for 2010 being an unusual year was that Charlie won the title, basi-
cally, as a privateer, with a large number of factory teams in the mix.
At the end of ’09, Suzuki was basically telling Charlie that he was “good to go
on his ride for that year.” So, naturally, he didn’t search for another ride or reach
out to anyone just because he was waiting on a contract from Suzuki. At the very
last minute, however, (in fact it was at the Mini O’s over Thanksgiving) Mike Webb
called and basically told Charlie that they weren’t going to be able to do any-
thing for him and just told him “that was it.”
So, Charlie was kind of stuck going into December since all of the other teams
had already signed riders so everything was kind of set for the year.
“At that point, my father-in-law and I tried to get some stuff I think at the time
with JT Bennet and GEICO,” said Charlie. “We talked to them, but everything was