On the Pegs Magazine - 09 September 2019

The Big Picture

AND GAM HELPING HAND

Alfredo Gomez gets a little help from his friends en route to the runner-up slot at the 2019 edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu, Romania.

PHOTO COURTESY FUTURE7MEDIA

The Big Picture

AND GAM

FIRST STRIKE

Colton Haaker struck first at the Phoenix round of the AMA EnduroCross Series, taking the win over Cory Graffunder and Taddy Blazusiak to kick off the series.

PHOTO BY BOB THEOBALD

The Big Picture

AND GAM

ACROSS THE CREEK...

Kailub Russell powers out of a creek during the Enduro test at the Rockcrusher Sprint Enduro, round seven of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series in Young Harris, Georgia.

PHOTO BY SHAN MOORE

The Big Picture

AND GAM ROCKY ROAD

Sherco teammates Wade Young (55) and Mario Roman battle over second place during the final race at the Tennessee Knockout held at the Trials Training Center in Tennessee.

PHOTO BY SHAN MOORE

The Big Picture

ANDTOGAMDAB, OR NOT TO DAB

Mark “Lightning” Weppler gives thought to taking a dab at the recent Trials Inc event in Toronto, Ohio. A well placed dab can be the deciding factor in both victory or defeat.

PHOTO

BY

STEPHANIE VETTERLY

THE TOP

KTM 300 XC-W TPI

KTM Factory riders are continually shifting the boundaries of possibility. Their demands have resulted in a new generation of complete high-performance offroad machines that offer outstanding handling and agility, improved ease of use and efficient power delivery across the whole rev range.

The new KTM 300 XC-W TPI is a race-refined machine of the highest caliber, built to conquer every challenge in your journey to the top.

Photo:

250cc / 300cc

Featuring an all new frame & sub-frame design that is stronger & lighter than previous model years, an added counter-balancer that provides a smoother response through the entire power band, and an easily accessible air filter box that makes maintenance a breeze.

BETA ENDURO & TRIALS DEALERS

Enduro Alaska • Wasilla, AK • 907-350-6584

S&T Cycles • North Clanton, AL • 205-755-1001

Al’s Cycle Center • North Little Rock, AR • 501-758-4800

Dirt Riders West • Scottsdale, AZ • 800-467-0604

Happy Trails Cycles• Bouse, AZ • 307-690-9493

Manic Moto • Queen Creek, AZ • 480-783-3243

On Any Moto

• Tucson, AZ • 520-269-6606

Auburn Extreme Powersports • Auburn, CA • 530-885-7105

Browns Cycles • Paso Robles, CA • 805-238-1240

C&D Cycle Center • San Diego, CA • 858-277-3298

Capitol Yamaha • Sacramento, CA • 916-485-9200

Coyne Powersports • El Centro, CA • 760-353-2110

Douglas Motorcycles • San Bernardino • CA • 909-884-4776

Honda Kawasaki Beta of Modesto • Modesto, CA • 209-529-5424

Jetworld Powersports • Castaic, CA • 661-294-0072

KC Power sports • San Juan Capistrano, CA • 949-942-9854

Lee’s Honda Kawasaki • Redding, CA • 530-221-6788

Moore & Sons • Santa Cruz, CA • 831-475-3619

MotoXotica • Vacaville, CA • 707-446-4282

Mountain Motorsports • Ontario, CA • 909-988-8988

Simi Valley Cycles • Simi Valley, CA • 805-522-3434

Uptite Husky • Santa Ana, CA • 714-540-2920

Apex Sports • Colorado Springs, CO • 719-475-2437

Extreme Power Sports • Steamboat, CO • 970-879-9175

Grand Mesa Motorsports • Delta, CO • 970-874-8621

Handlebar Motorsports • Durango, CO • 970-247-0845

MotoAdventure • Loveland, CO • 970-669-5377

Spirit Lake Motorsports • Grand Lake, CO • 970-627-9288

Timberline Motorsports • Buena Vista, CO • 719-395-4272

Level 10 Performance Motorsports • Ormond Beach, FL • 386-944-9160

Priority 1 Powersports • Fort Pierce, FL •772-448-8555

Tiki Cycles Unlimited • Mililani, HI • 808-486-8454

Cycle Tech • Fremont, IA • 641-632-8201

DR Powersports • Waterloo, IA • 319-235-6453 ext5

Hicklin PowerSports • Grimes, IA • 515-986-4880

Action Cycles N Sleds • Twin Falls,ID • 208-736-8118

Dennis Dillon RV & Marine • Boise, ID • 208-343-2830

Kolby Offroad • Idaho Falls, ID • 208-881-9646

Sandpoint Marine & Motorsports • Ponderay, ID • 208-263-1535

Braaap Shop • Mendota, IL • 815-538-6686

Integ Motorsports • East Peoria, IL • 309-699-3929

Fatty’s Cycle • Fortville, IN • 317-485-6200

The Cycle Shed • Vernon, IN • 812-346-8620

Miller Cycle Shop • Inman, KS • 620-712-1165

Morgan’s Suspension Service • Louisville, KY • 502-239-1870

Knight Cycles • Southbridge, MA • 508-764-4356

LBI Motorsports • Oxford, MA • 508-987-6245

Motoworx • West Hatfield, MA• 413-427-0846

Cycle max • Gaithersburg, MD • 301-869-6629

Xtreme Powersports • Accident, MD • 301-387-2095

Maine Cycle • Auburn, ME •207-783-7349

Bennett Powersports • Marlette, MI • 989-635-5500

Marquette Beta • Marquette, MI • 906-226-3560

MX Parts Now • Watervliet, MI • 269-201-7064

Plus One Performance • Dearborn, MI • 313-918-8944

Lewis Charles Cycles • Albert Lea, MN • 507-720-4144

Bonecutter Body Shop • California, MO • 573-796-8685

Donnell’s Motorcycles • Independence, MO • 816-478-9393

Motorcycles and More • Marthasville, MO • 636-433-2384

QC Moto • Springfield, MO • 417-862-4343

Blitz Motorsports • Bozeman, MT • 406-522-7533

Fastoys • Kalispell, MT • 406-257-8697

Hanson’s Motorsports • Billings, MT • 406-545-7338

Kurt’s Polaris • Missoula, MT • 406-541-3651

Poet Motorcycles • Helena, MT • 406-457-8230

Big Toy Superstore • Winston Salem, NC • 336-768-3433

Brewer Cycles • Henderson, NC • 252-492-8553

Redline Motorsports • Bismarck, ND • 701-426-0083

Johnny’s Cycle • Nebraska City, NE • 402-873-6913

Smart Auto Sales • Omaha, NE • 402-715-4647

Naults Powersports • Manchester, NH • 603-669-7220

Town & Country Cycle Center • Hamburg, NJ • 973-875-2111

Trapani Race Setups • Waretown, NJ • 609-693-3773

Champion Motorsports • Roswell, NM • 575-624-0151

DT Motorsports • Alamogordo, NM • 575-434-0454

S Squared Motorsports • Albuquerque, NM • 505-839-0505

Sun Country Powersports • Farmington, NM • 505-325-4195

Sierra BMW Motorcycle • Sparks, NV • 775-355-0655

Sonoma Cycle • Winnemucca, NV • 775-623-6888

Sportsman Cycle • Las Vegas, NV • 702-641-6401

3 Seas Recreation • Mayville, NY • 716-753-2628

Barnstormers Off Road • Whitehall, NY • 518-769-1058

Powerline Cycles • Mahopac, NY • 845-528-3401

Steve’s Custom Cycle • Lockport, NY • 716-625-4372

Beaver Creek Cycle • Lisbon, OH • 330-386-7353

Championship Powersports • Wauseon, OH • 419-335-8600

KRW Cycles • Dayton, OH • 937-477-0522

Pony Powersports • Westerville, OH • 614-212-7888

Staud Cycles• Fairfield, OH • 513-604-2391

Airhead Sales & Service • Klamath Falls, OR • 541-882-3572

Beaverton Motorcycles • Tigard, OR • 503-718-6670

Dan’s Motorsports Outlet • Salem, OR • 503-385-8108

Bromley Motorcycle • Trevose, PA • 215-357-1534

Bromley Motorsports • Stevensville, PA • 215-450-5487

Ephrata Cycle & Sports • Ephrata, PA • 717-738-1184

First Bike Motorsports • Butler, PA • 724-287-3052

Kissell Motorsports • Tyrone, PA • 814-861-7890

RyanCo Cycle Works • Bloomsburg, PA • 570-437-4034

South Mtn Cycle Shop • Dillsburg, PA • 717-432-4997

San Juan Motorsports • San Juan, PR • 787-399-6866

Upstate Cycle • Greenville , SC • 864-232-7223

Rosco’s Motorcycle & ATV • Rapid City, SD • 605-348-3946

Adventure Offroad • Leoma, TN • 931-852-5445

Garry Griffith Cycle • Chattanooga, TN • 423-867-0423

GDM Motorsports • Murfreesboro, TN • 615-907-7212

Knox Enduro • Knoxville, TN • 865-308-0330

D Squared Trials & Trails • Amarillo, TX • 806-576-0271

380 Motorsports • Decatur, TX • 817-752-8456

Big Country Motorsports • Magnolia, TX • 281-356-2506

Fun Motors of Longview • Longview, TX • 903-663-9100

Moto El Paso • El Paso, TX • 915-566-6666

Cutler’s Inc. • Orem, UT • 801-224-5005

Factory Powersports • Saint George, UT • 435-628-5281

Offroad Specialists • Fillmore, UT • 435-743-4180

Ridgeline Motorsports • Vernal, UT • 435-789-7433

Steadmans Recreation • Tooele, UT • 435-882-3344

Sunny Offroad • Perry, UT • 801-430-1101

Allsport Cycles • Roanoke, VA • 540-772-2500

Commonwealth Motorsports • Hayes, VA • 804-642-2200

Early’s Cycle Center • Harrisonburg, VA • 540-433-2585

Frank’s Motor Bikes • Bellevue, WA • 425-603-9000

Smitty’s Outdoor Power & Cycle • Yakima, WA • 509-453-9966

Xtreme Powersports • Okanogan, WA • 509-826-5771

Metro Motorcycle • Neenah, WI • 920-722-0700

Appalachian Offroad • Lanes, WV • 304-932-0437

Beta of Henderson • Henderson, WV • 304-675-5111

DSD Kawasaki Motorcycle & Rv Sales • Parkersburg, WV • 304-861-0449

Elkins Motorsports • Elkins, WV • 304-636-7732

Alpine Motorsports • Casper, WY • 307-234-4944

Handos Service Center • Sheridan, WY • 307-675-2287

Raw Power Motorsports • Thayne, WY • 307-883-3278

ELEVATE THE STANDARD

The FX and TX cross-country model range offers purpose-built motorcycles with ultra-modern components like electric start to get the rider off the line faster and a Map Select switch to put the power to the ground. Performance-focused innovations were implemented to ensure power accessibility and agility to stay ahead of the competition.

Photo: F. Lackner

Photo by Shan Moore

THE LOOP

News and Culture From The World Of Trials, Offroad and Extreme Racing

PAT SMAGE VS OLIVER SMITH

A new video featuring 11 time US Champion Pat Smage (still only 28 years old) and OSET’s own Oliver Smith (now 18) shows the two of them challenging each other to a game of ‘BIKE’ on their OSET 24.0R’s. The video shows the potential of the bikes in the hands of the two best OSET riders in the world, going head to head on some serious challenges!

Oliver had been invited to the States by ex-US Pro rider Dennis Sweeten. The two spent time together at the world famous Scottish Six Days Trial where Dennis has ridden many times, and Oliver was in for the first time on a 125cc bike! Oliver bagged the ‘Best under 200cc’ award, partially thanks to Dennis’s help showing him the ropes through the week. Dennis’s invitation to Oliver and his girlfriend Jazz was to come to the USA, borrow bikes and ride a US National. Way too good to pass up, so Oliver and Jazz went on an amazing US adventure!

After Oliver and Pat won their respective classes at the Oregon National the previous day (both by healthy margins), the two of them stayed behind on the Monday and shot the ‘Game of BIKE’ video.

OSET 24.0’s are good for any age from 10 years old up. Skills learned on OSET’s will make any rider better, as proven by Pat & Oliver! n

MADDIE’S EUROPEAN VACATION

In addition to winning the Women’s Pro Championship in this year’s NATC/ AMA US National MotoTrials Series, Maddie Hoover also competed in Europe where she finished third in the Women’s European Championships, which is an amazing accomplishment.

According to he GasGas North America, Maddie rode the entire season on her TXT250 GP’s without a hiccup and was on the podium several times over the season in Europe.

Congratulations to Maddie and thanks for representing the United States so well in Europe.

Electric Adventures

OSET Electric Bikes and Desert Rose Adventures launch off-road electric motorcycle academy just for children

Electric Adventures - OSET Electric Bikes and Desert Rose Adventures launch a brand new off-road electric motorcycle academy just for children.

OSET Electric Bikes and Desert Rose Adventures are delighted to announce the launch of the Desert Rose Juniors OSET Training Academy aimed at providing children with the best possible off-road motorcycle training and coaching for a successful and safe life on two wheels.

Initially running out of two beautiful locations in East Sussex, with plans to take it nationwide, training courses will be available from introduction, beginners, in-

termediate and advanced for children from the age of 5 and upwards. All training will use the world leading children’s electric motorcycles from OSET Bikes - specifically designed to help children learn core bike skills - with full kit and safety equipment provided to all riders. If riders already have a bike, then they will be welcome to bring this along to use.

Patsy Quick, who heads up Desert Rose and is best known as the first British woman to finish the world famous Dakar Rally as well as previously winning the British & European Enduro Championships:

“We are very excited about this new venture as all of us at Desert Rose are passionate about getting children into dirt bike and off-road riding and to give them the core skills they will need to have a fun and successful life on two wheels. To do this we firmly believe in a structured environment with the objective of starting them safe and keeping them safe, whilst they have a great time in the great outdoors!”

Patsy continued;

“All our instructors are fully ACU certified and come with many years of experience in off road riding around the world and delivering this experience as practical, informative and fun training courses designed for little riders.”

Each course last around 2½ hours and will cover everything that a child needs to develop their off-road riding skills from using a twist style throttle for the first time and correct standing and sitting body positions for beginner riders to heavy braking and riding steep and technically difficult climbs at the advanced level.

James Robertson, Head of Marketing for OSET Electric Bikes added,

“We are absolutely thrilled with this partnership and being able to offer kids the chance to not only experience electric motorcycles, some for the very first time, but more importantly getting the right skills and training so they keep their passion for riding throughout their lives.”

The Academy is taking bookings now, just in time for the school holidays and all details, availability and prices are available on the Desert Rose Juniors OSET Training Academy website: https://oset.adventureridingacademy.com/

GAS GAS UPDATE

PhoToS By STEvE BERknER

There have been a lot of rumors circulating about the status of GasGas, and specifically, about the US distributor, GasGas North America. Rumors that the company is up for sale or is in receivership or bankruptcy. During a recent National Enduro in Pennsylvania, GasGas North America Operations Manager Mark Berg spoke about the issue in an effort to clean clear things up.

“We’re hearing all sorts of questions and stories, like our South Dakota offices are closed and all the parts have been shipped back, but that’s not the case at all,” said Berg. “We work with the factory on a weekly basis moving forward in 2020 with bike sales, and with our programs and support. My staff is still there at the offices; it’s normal business for us still. We’re constantly getting parts in and back out to our dealers and working on programs for 2020.

“In our warehouse, we have in stock well over $500,000 of parts for just trials and enduro, plus aftermarket parts so we have a lot of parts going all the way back to 1996. With the fire that they had last year at the factory, they did have some struggles in transitions to a new warehouse and replenishing those stocks. And

we did run into some issues with plastics and everything else that were obviously destroyed in the fire. But things are getting better back at the factory as far as getting caught up on back-orders. Our fulfillment rates are getting up there. Not the level that we want them to be, but they’re getting better. So, the bottom line is, we are doing well and it’s business as usual at GasGas North America.

“When the Contreras family and the Torrot Group bought GasGas in 2016, they didn’t use their own money. They used a company called Black Toro Capital as their investment company. Throughout all this, GasGas had a very successful 2017 with the new 2018 models in that timeframe.They did 40 million dollars in sales that year, and 30 million of it was GasGas sales. Only 10 of it was Torrot sales. But Torrot decided to take that cash and invest more into electric, more into green energy, and they kind of left GasGas holding the bag for 2019 R&D and 2020 R&D. That’s where the Black Toro Capital said enough is enough. GasGas is the company that is profitable. GasGas has a viable future. We’re going to take control of that. That’s where they’re at right now, working on splitting up the two companies and we are just working on aftersales support and keeping our dealers plus consumers in the loop of what is truly going on.” n

Jurassic is Getting Bigger!

In the July issue Felipe Koberg explained his concept – a 3 day trial, patterned after the Scottish Six Days, but marked through the jungles of Costa Rica. The ambitious plan has been building momentum, gaining sponsors and support, and lowering prices.

We called Felipe when he was hot off one phone call with a new sponsor and typing up an email to secure a major name to compete in the event. Felipe told us that in addition to the title sponsor DHL shipping, they have picked up both Hebo and Repsol as major sponsors. Hebo will be providing a Hebo short sleeve jersey, custom designed for the event, to each competitor (with a matching pair of pants available to purchase), and Repsol will be supplying the oils for the riders.

About those a-list names? As we go to press Felipe was not able to confirm, but there should be some big talent from the Scottish showing up to tackle the foliage of Central America. We also happen to know a major US rider has shown interest, so there might be something brewing down there in under the jungle canopy.

Maybe the biggest name, though, is course marker is Carlos Casas, who was part of the team to pick the Jurassic’s sections and who, along with Andy Perry (the 11X Irish National Champion), will be marking every section of the Jurassic. The event is limited to 120 entries, and the course includes two sets of transfer sections – so novice and pro riders can enjoy the same event without bottlenecks (there are also 3 lines through each section: Follower, Novice/Intermediate, and Pro).

Maybe the biggest new of all - the organizers recently directly-negotiated new hotel packages - the prices have come down and the hotel star-ratings have gone up; now you and you bike can stay right on the beach (the parc ferme is on the beach!).

Check jurassictrial.com for more on hotel, bike shipping, bike rentals, and ways to wrap the whole thing into a family “summer” vacation at the end of November!

Fire Power Releases Racing Motor Oils

100% Synthetic With Racing Ester Performance

Fire Power has released a new lineup of motorcycle and powersports engine oils engineered for racing and high performance applications. Fire Power 10W40 and 20W-50 Full Synthetic motor oils are fortified with ester and when combined with Fire Power’s Next Generation engine protection technology, offer the best performance and value for high-performance and racing applications.

“We are extremely excited to add the addition of oil to the Fire Power line up,” Fire Power Brand Manager Kirk Alves explained. “This product fits well with the current Fire Power lineup keeping our dealers and customers in mind first! We have developed a product at a competitive price point that doesn’t have to sacrifice performance which continues the Fire Power story.”

Fire Power 10W-40 mineral is fully JASO MA2 certified. The Fire Power lineup meets or exceeds JASO MA and MA2 certifications for engine oil as well as warranty requirements for all Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. The Full-synthetic formula is fortified with racing ester to withstand extreme heat and high RPM use. Ester provides and ultra-strong oil film to protect rings, cylinder walls and rod bearing under extreme stress.

Fire Power Next Generation additive package is the result of evaluating more than 20 different additive options. Those 20 options were narrowed down to five of the best, then those five were dyno tested to validate which one would perform to Fire Power standards. The result is ultimate engine protection and wet clutch performance.

Fire Power engine oils are highly shear stable and posted double the viscosity strength of aftermarket engine oils in ASTM 6278 controlled shear stability testing. Fire Power’s Rotary Polymer technology means it stays in grade longer, protecting engines for the entire service interval.

View the lineup of Fire Power engine oils as well as the complete lineup of Fire Power parts at www.firepowerparts.com. n

SMAGE RIDING TECHNIQUE PAT

FOR THE NEXT YEAR, TEN-TIME US MOTOTRIALS CHAMPION PAT SMAGE WILL BE BRINGING US MONTHLY RIDING TIPS DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU A BETTER RIDER. AND WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE A BETTER RIDER? WHETHER YOU’RE A TRIALS RIDER OR AN OFF-ROAD ENTHUSIAST, WE’RE CERTAIN YOU’LL BENEFIT FROM PAT’S TIPS, SO SIT BACK AND TAKE IT ALL IN. BE SAFE AND DON’T FORGET TO PRACTICE WITH A BUDDY!

LINKING MOVES TOGETHER

Risk Racing ATS Magnetic Moto Stand

Max Sug. Retail: $139.99

Website: www.riskracing.com

Contact: (704)-508-1031

The Risk Racing® A.T.S. Stand is an adjustable top, magnetic moto stand that ensures every bike sits level. It features two anodized, CNC, aluminum turnbuckles with locknuts, that allow the user to set the angle of the top of the stand, in order to bring both tires level into the air. With both tires lifted, simple tasks like cleaning and servicing are much easier. Magnets are embedded into the A.T.S. side panels enabling users to remove bike parts and simply stick nuts, bolts, and tools directly to the A.T.S. Stand. Utilizing magnets on both side panels allows bolts from each side of the bike to be kept isolated, and on the correct side of the bike. Constructed of powder coated steel, this innovative stand is built to endure and holds any bike, from 50cc to the largest dirt bike, perfectly level. perfectly level.

2020 KTM Radiator Guards

Max Sug. Retail: $244.00 +

Website: www.bulletproofdesigns.com

Bullet Proof Designs is infiltrating the KTM market with Radiator Guards for all 2020 big bike models. Machined from solid 6061-T6 billet aluminum and built right here in the USA, the lightweight guards mount to the frame for superior strength in frontal and side protection and improve lateral strength. A ribbed design paired with a lower bowl protector boasts robustness against the inevitable rock flying through the air as you race across the desert or the lone branch poking through the brush waiting to penetrate the radiators. Offered with a lifetime warranty to ensure confidence in the rider, the Radiator Guards are available in Silver, Black, Blue, and Orange to enhance the looks and durability of any KTM at a fraction of the cost of a new radiator. An additional strap kit to secure the radiator shrouds is also available.

on the pegs

2020 HUSQVARNA CASUAL CLOTHES COLLECTION

HIGH-QUALITY EVERYDAY GARMENTS THAT DELIVER FUNCTIONALITY AND STYLE

Husqvarna Motorcycles just announced its Casual Clothing Collection 2020 – functional, premium quality clothing, luggage and accessories designed and manufactured for everyday use. Featuring numerous stylish lifestyle items, the range includes shorts, pants, polo shirts, t-shirts and sweaters as well as contemporary outer ware for complete and tasteful protection from the elements.

Designed for those who are fuelled by a passion to ride, the all-new collection delivers comfortable, stylish clothing that supports adventurous lifestyles and reflects the brand’s Swedish heritage. The highlight of the CASUAL CLOTHING COLLECTION 2020 is the REMOTE PARKA – a highly functional lightweight and waterproof jacket that can be worn wherever life takes you.

HIGHLIGHTS CASUAL CLOTHING COLLECTION 2020

ORIGIN POLO

The ORIGIN POLO is a comfortable, timeless classic that delivers a balanced mix of smart and casual styling. Available in two colour options, grey and blue, it is ideal for the office, meetings or various occasions during your free time. Its special, breathable fabric dries four times faster than conventional materials, ensuring you will always stay cool and dry. Both colours feature a 3D Husqvarna Motorcycles logo on the chest.

ORIGIN SWEATER

The ORIGIN SWEATER is the go-to item whenever temperatures start to fall. A functional garment made from a double-face cotton material that ensures a soft and natural feel. Stylish with simple lines and raglan sleeves, it features side slits that give a natural, comfortable fit and is finished with a subtle embossed 3D effect Husqvarna Motorcycles logo on the chest.

REMOTE PARKA

Mixing classic lines with modern materials the REMOTE PARKA ensures the weather never gets the better of you. Featuring an advanced, high-quality 3-layered fabric, it delivers functional style, is waterproof, windproof and has a special breathable inner layer. Packed with dependable technical features including spacious pockets, an adjustable hood and reflective detailing it also features extended sleeve cuffs and no fewer than three pockets. The REMOTE PARKA can be worn wherever life takes you and proudly displays a small Husqvarna Motorcycles logo.

REMOTE PANTS

The all-purpose REMOTE PANTS are designed to fulfil a variety of functions. Lightweight and robustly constructed, they are both comfortable and stylish –equipped for life beyond the commute. Breathable, 4-way stretch fabric is shaped to ensure comfort when sitting, standing and moving and contains technology that guarantees they always remain crease-free. Side and rear pockets offer storage for phone and wallet with hidden reflective detailing increase visibility during early mornings and evenings.

REMOTE HYBRID JACKET

Warm and easily packable, the REMOTE HYBRID JACKET delivers year-round functionality and freedom of movement thanks to its mixed material construction with primaloft padding ensuring warmth in areas most affected by the flow of cool wind. Optimising any outdoor experience, it delivers breathability, comfort and style – a true all-round, lightweight water and wind resistant jacket. Featuring extended, raglan sleeve cuffs, an adjustable hood and side pockets with zippers, the two-colour design guarantees a bold and contemporary look.

ACCELERATE SHORTS

Perfect for indoor and outdoor activities, the ACCELERATE SHORTS feature an elasticated waistband with drawstring for a secure and comfortable fit while allowing ample space to move without restriction. Manufactured from a breathable 4-way stretch material, these highly functional shorts are designed specifically for those who enjoy the freedom of the great outdoors.

TOTE BAG

Ideal for weekend escapes and as an inflight cabin baggage, the Husqvarna Motorcycles TOTE BAG is the perfect holdall. Providing 26 litres of internal capacity together with an external zipped compartment for phones and keys, the bag is also easy to carry thanks to two hand and one shoulder strap. Extremely lightweight, it can be easily stored.

KNITTED GLOVES

A timeless, unassuming design that gives complete protection against the cold, Husqvarna Motorcycles KNITTED GLOVES are manufactured from a 50% wool / 50% acrylic blend to ensure effective heat insulation and strength. Wide openings provide quick and easy fitment.

SCARF

The perfect winter accessory, the Husqvarna Motorcycles SCARF can be worn at any time. Guaranteeing warmth, the 50% wool / 50% acrylic construction ensures a soft, natural touch with lasting durability. The Husqvarna Motorcycles logo is featured in a subtle yet prominent way.

For further details on pricing and availability, please refer to your national Husqvarna Motorcycles subsidiary or Importer. Availability of individual items may differ from country to country. The new CASUAL CLOTHING COLLECTION 2020 will be available at all authorised Husqvarna Motorcycles dealers from August 2019. n

Yelling, Sulking, Wallowing and Acceptance

A CoLUMn

By RAChEL GUTISh

Ihave never understood why people rent bikes for the ISDE, given that the cost is between one-third to one-half of what a brand-new bike would be. To be honest, the only real advantage I can see to it is that if the bike blows up midway through the week, you at least have someone you can go yell at about it.

When my bikes blew up at the ISDE, I never had the privilege of having someone to yell at. Either A) I had prepped the bike or B) My dad had prepped the bike. You see my predicament here. If I yell at myself, at best I would get concerned stares from alarmed foreigners, while at worst there would be men in white coats coming to take me away to the nearest nuthouse. I personally have never seen the inside of an Argentinian asylum and have exactly zero interest in doing so.

RACHEL GUTISH

Obviously, I can’t yell at my dad. While he has never actually lost his temper and thrown a crescent wrench at me, I have seen the temptation writ large upon his face far too many times. Plus, he has high blood pressure anyway, and I’m sure when he becomes so angry that those veins in his forehead stick out it probably doesn’t help matters any. But the last and most compelling reason not to yell at my dad is that one of my fatal flaws is a stunning lack of mechanical aptitude. If I had to start doing all the engine work on my own bike (especially if I was on a four-stroke) my equipment wouldn’t last half a season.

Yelling at the bike also does very little good. It may make you feel better in the short run, but usually the bike feels just as bad about the situation as you do. Kicking the bike is also considered poor sportsmanship and should be avoided. I personally have never kicked a bike, as it would cost me my membership in Society Against Dirtbike Destruction (SADD), a noble organization similar to ASPCA, dedicated to the eradication of motorcycle abuse. This is definitely not an imaginary organization that I made up just now as a cover to hide how abusive I am to my poor dirt bikes. Just a couple weeks ago at the Fallen Timbers Extreme Enduro, I remember sitting at the top of a very steep hill. I dismounted and leaned down toward my bike, gently whispering “I promise this really is the best way to get the two of us down this thing”, before giving it a hard shove and sending it skidding and cartwheeling into the abyss. When I caught up with it at the bottom,

I checked to make sure most of the critical parts were still attached. When I confirmed everything was there and the bike was in ridable condition, I rubbed the slightly bent side shroud and said lovingly “You were so good.” On a related note, is there a special hotline you can call if you suspect you are gaslighting your bike? Asking for a friend. Speaking of hotlines, sometimes I’m worried my bike is going to call one of the hotlines for help leaving abusive relationships.

As a result of not having anyone to yell at, I always had to bottle up the emotions inside, and would resort to sulking. Sulking was actually a specialty of mine for a number of years. The best (or worst) sulk I ever had wasn’t due to a bike failure at all though, but was instead caused by a spectacularly bad main event at the Las Vegas EnduroCross when I was a teenager. Exactly what happened in the race has long since been lost in the fog of too many concussions, but boy do I remember that sulk! We raced on a Friday and had to drive to Louisiana for a NEPG that was taking place on Sunday. For reasons that would be too complicated to get into right now, we had too many people and not enough seats, so I was stuck on the floor for the entirety of 22-hour drive. I crawled up under the backseat of our cargo van and didn’t come out until we hit Dallas.

I think I’ve begun to outgrow sulking though. Nowadays I tend to just stick with wallowing. To an untrained outsider, the two look very familiar, as both involve complete silence and a unpleasant expression. The key difference is that the sulker primarily experiences a larger proportion of anger than sadness and disappointment, as they have immaturely expected to get something better which they believe they deserved. On the other hand, the wallower experiences more sadness than anger, and has recognized that they got exactly what they should have expected all along.

The psychologists say that the ideal emotion to experience after disappointment is acceptance, which is recognizing what happened, accepting it, and moving forward from it. However, what the psychologists usually neglect to mention is that having a family member say “Why can’t you just get over the race already!” is far more likely to provoke yelling, sulking or wallowing than it is to spontaneously cause acceptance. Personally, I think being asked to get over a race on the following Wednesday is entirely too soon, which is why I plan to call my senator after my next disaster and ask for an extension to the statute of limitations on post-race sulking. My editor, Shan Moore, has agreed to tack a copy of my petition to the end of this column (right Shan?). If all supporters would please mail your neatly filled out form with signature attached to the world headquarters of SADD before my next bad race, it would be greatly appreciated. n

• A versatile trials or trail bike (with the addition of a removable seat)

• The T-18 Dragonfly is an adult electric trials bike featuring a real hydraulic clutch

• A 5 speed gearbox provides the best match of engine power to terrain requirements

• M4 39mm Aluminum AIR FORKS

• Special Ohlins shock direct to swing arm (Linkless suspension)

• 3 hr quick change battery

• Weighs in at 132 pounds

LETTENBICHLER’S ROMANIACS

SIBIU, ROMANIA

AUGUST 3, 2019

Germany’s Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) takes control of the World Enduro Super Series lead with victory at round five’s Red Bull Romaniacs. Securing the win on the final day of racing in Romania, Lettenbichler claimed his debut victory in WESS. He was joined on the podium by Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Alfredo Gomez (ESP) and Graham Jarvis (GB).

Holding the provisional lead at the end of the penultimate day, Lettenbichler was determined to claim the top step of the podium on the final day of racing. With a slender one-minute and seven-second lead over Gomez, the German pushed hard from the off and following the early climbs maintained his position at the front.

Gomez appeared to struggle to find his rhythm early on, dropping back behind a charging Jonny Walker (GB).

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider was on top form and provisionally led on corrected time entering the service point.

Rain Challenges All

But with heavy rain greeting riders, the already challenging trails proved slippery and unpredictable. Gomez found his rhythm in the rain and brought the fight back to Lettenbichler. The duo swapped and changed position with each passing section.

Lettenbichler entered the Gusterita finishing arena first and worked hard to complete the remaining climbs as quickly as possible. Anxiously waiting for Gomez to arrive, the KTM rider kept one eye on the clock and one on his rival as the seconds ticked by.

The nerves soon turned to joy and with Lettenbichler declared the winner, the celebrations could begin. For Gomez it was a case of close, but not close enough. Despite giving his best effort on arguably the toughest day of this year’s race it was not to be and he had to settle for the runner-up result. Putting hopes of another victory in

this year’s championship on hold, Jarvis ended his week on the third step of the podium.

“I’m over the moon right now, I really can’t believe it,” said Lettenbichler. “ This race is really something special and to win here feels amazing. The event is so long and so hard and anything can happen, so I’m so pumped to take the win. It’s been an incredible five days and so gnarly, especially with all the rain we’ve had. Some of the uphills that would have been tricky anyway have become near impossible today. It’s 10 years since my dad won Red Bull Romaniacs so it’s great to be able to match his achievement – the Lettenbichlers are definitely going to celebrate tonight!”

Alfredo Gomez put up a fight, but in the end had to settle for second.

“It’s been an amazing race, I’m so happy to get on the podium,” said Gomez. “The first day didn’t go so well for me but then on the second day I had a better feeling on the bike and was able to take the win. The last two days also went well and it was great to have such a close fight with Mani and Graham. Obviously I’m disappointed not to have taken the win but it still feels great to come second after such a long and demanding race. Thank you to everyone who helped me over the event – my team and all the fans – I’ll come back even stronger next year.” Jarvis rounded out the podium in third.

“It was definitely the hardest day today – it was so slippery on the hills after the rain and there was a lot of pushing. I’m happy just to get to the finish today – I was going well up to the service point then I had a crash and lost my GPS,” said Jarvis. “After that I just tried to tag onto the other riders so I knew where to go. I did get lost a couple of times, so I’m really happy to get third. Overall the event has gone well, it’s been one of the closest and I’m happy that I was still in contention right up to the end.”

WADE YOUNG

Blazusiak Recovers

With the top three proving themselves the main contenders, Blazusiak was a definite improver as the week wore on. Hampered by his technical issue on day one, a strong ride on the final two days brought him back up the leaderboard for fourth. A really strong ride from Walker for third on Off Road Day Four, saw him complete the top five in the final classification.

Behind the top five, drama struck Sherco Factory Racing’s Mario Roman. Holding fourth overall, the Spaniard had a bad day at the office in seventh. Despite a strong three days previous, he slipped to seventh overall. His loss was Billy Bolt’s gain, with the British rider moving up to sixth overall.

Signing off on an impressive week, JD Gunnex KTM Racing privateer David Cyprian (CZ) placed ninth in the rain to end round five eighth overall. TTR Officine Rigamonti’s Pol Tarres (ESP) and Josep Garcia (KTM-ESP) completed the top 10 in ninth and tenth respectively. The World Enduro Super Series continues with round six at Hawkstone Park Cross-Country, UK on September 21-22.

Results: Red Bull Romaniacs Final Gold Class

1. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM - GER) 20:39:51; 2. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna - ESP) 20:42:15; 3. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna - GB) 20:52:12; 4. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM - POL) 21:25:36; 5. Jonny Walker (KTM - GB) 21:30:40; 6. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna - GB) 23:16:34; 7. Mario Roman (Sherco - ESP) 23:36:25; 8. David Cyprian (KTM - CZ) 23:48:33; 9. Pol Tarres (Husqvarna - ESP) 24:42:30; 10. Josep Garcia (KTM - ESP) 25:08:26…

WESS Championship Standings (After round 5)

1. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM - GER) 3570 pts; 2. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna - GB) 3460 pts; 3. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna - ESP) 3164; 4. Mario Roman (Sherco - ESP) 2940 pts; 5. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna - GB) 2725 pts; 6. Jonny Walker (KTM - GB) 2700 pts; 7. Josep Garcia (KTMESP) 2615 pts; 8. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM - POL) 2590 pts; 9. Nathan Watson (KTM - GB) 2091 pts; 10. Pol Tarres (Husqvarna - ESP) 1965 pts…

JONNY WALKER

TADDY BLAZUSIAK

COLTON HAAKER

GAME ON!

EnDURoCRoSS “FInALLy ” kICkS oFF In ARIZonA

AMA EnDURoCRoSS ChAMPIonShIP

RoUnD 1

AUGUST 24, 2019

PhoEnIX, ARIZonA

By Bob Theobald

Photos by Bob Theobald and Diahann Tanke

CORY GRAFFUNDER

At one point the 2019 EnduroCross series didn’t look like it was going to get off the ground. However, thanks to EnduroCross architect Eric Peronnard and Arenacross entrepreneur Tod Hammock, not only did the 2019 season get underway, but it appears to be alive and well.

Saturday August 24 saw the opening round of the 2019 Endurocross season kick off with a bang. With a new format and the return of Taddy Blazusiak to the series, expectations were high. Taking place in the Findley Center in Prescott Arizona, the track had some familiar obstacles: rock piles, The Matrix, logs, and tractor tires. Missing was the water feature, but a new, pro only, obstacle was a concrete barrier followed by a giant steel drum.

As for the format, the pro’s would need to qualify during the day, with a LCQ to start the night show. If you qualified, or got through the LCQ, there would be three motos with a double starting line. The starting order of moto 1 is based on the Hot Laps qualifying times, the starting order of moto 2 is an inverted finishing order of moto 1, and the starting order of moto 3 is the finishing order of moto 2. Basically if you do well in moto 1, you get to start from the second row of moto 2. The overall winner is the rider with the best score.

This format made for a great night of racing. When the flag dropped on for the first moto, Ty Tremaine got the holeshot. In the first few laps, the riders were jostling back and forth. Tremaine went down and Cory Graffunder took over the lead and held on for the moto 1 win with Colton Haaker in second and Ty Cullins in third.

In moto 2, the top finishers had to start from the back row. When the gate dropped, it was Haaker with the holeshot. He said, “When the gate dropped, there was a small gap and I just pinned it and ended up with the holeshot.” Haaker kept the lead entire moto for the win, with Tristan Hart in second and Noah Kepple in third.

Moto 3 was a fight. Taddy Blazusiak got out to an early lead. Colton Haaker was in a close second and started to battle for the lead. The battle lasted most of the race. With just a few laps left Haaker went for block pass leaving Blazusiak stuck for a few seconds. That was all Haaker needed to take the win. Bazusiak fought

hard and closed up the gap, but ran out of time. Graffunder rode solid for a third. With three moto format, there was a lot of good racing. Blazusiak said ”it was a very good race track: fast and challenging, with a lot of passing lanes.” In the end, Colton Haaker took his Husqvarna to the overall win with 2-1-1 scores. Cory Graffunder took second with 1-5-3 scores and Taddy Bazusiak took third with 4-6-2 scores.

The women’s main saw the return of Rachel Gutish to Endurocross. She hadn’t raced the series in a couple of years and was excited to be back. There were riders from 5 different states and 2 countries. Shelby Turner wanted to make sure her trek down south from Canada was worth the travel. She got warmed up for the main by winning the Amateur Main where she got the holeshot and led the entire race.

When the gate dropped for the Women’s Main, Rachel Gutish went down hard on the start strait while Maria Forsberg tried to hold off Turner. Turner got the lead and never looked back, taking the win. Forsberg rode solid to for a second place finish. Gutish got up, regrouped, and fought hard to get on the podium in third.

Other key results, Destry Abbot was leading the Vet class main when a lapper took him out on the rock pile. He got back up, dug deep, and pulled off the win. Braden Petrie won the Expert Class, Nick Tolman won the Intermediate Class, and Nick Saia won the Club Class. Thanks go out to the dedicated crew that kept the series alive and pulled off a great event. The next round is in Denver on October 19th. n

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Colton Haaker (Hsq)

2. Cory Graffunder (Yam)

3. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM)

4. Max Gerston (Bet)

5. Trystan Hart (KTM)

KR557 CRUSHES

k AILUB RUSSELL CLIChES SPRI

RoCkCRUShER SPRInT EnDURo

kEnDA FULL GAS SPRInT EnDURo SERIES

yoUnG hARRIS, GEoRGIA

AUGUST 10-11, 2019

IT

SPRInT TITLE

Kailub Russell became the first two-time champion of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series, With his overall victory at the Rockcrusher Full Gas Sprint Enduro in Young Harris, Georgia, having also won the title in 2015.

So far, Russell has won six of the seven rounds held so far this year, so the FMF/KTM rider’s performance at Rock Crusher Farm this weekend was enough to clinch the 2019 title with one round remaining on the schedule.

In all, Russell won seven of the twelve tests, four Enduro tests and three Cross tests, to finish the event with a 31-second margin over runner-up Thad Duvall.

Duvall won the final two tests on Sunday, and was consistent enough to claim second overall for the weekend. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider had brake problems in one of the Cross tests on Sunday, but still managed to edge out Josh Strang for the runner-up slot by 33 seconds.

Strang is notoriously strong in the Cross tests, and the Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki rider came away with three Cross test wins.

Husqvarna-backed Layne Michael turned in a solid performance for fourth overall, missing the podium by just 21 seconds. Michael suffered through two surgeries after breaking his collar bone at the start of the season and is just now finding his form.

Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jordan Ashburn rounded out the top five. The Tennessee rider made good time in the Enduro test, but spent most of the day looking for faster times in the Cross test.

Sixth overall and first in the Pro2 division went to Husqvarna/

THAD DUVALL

Max Motorsports/FXR’s Evan Smith. Smith got off to a slow start, but did what he needed to do to get the “W”.

Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Jesse Ansley rode a KTM 125 SX to seventh overall and second in the Pro2 class, which included two test wins in the division.

Mike Witkowski was another of the Pro2 riders that broke the top-10, putting his factory Beta into eighth overall and third in the Pro2 class.

Coastal Racing Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong turned in some solid rides to finish ninth overall, while Ben Parsons rounded out the top 10 on a Husqvarna for a fourth-place finish in Pro2.

Tayla Jones missed the previous round due to a nasty hand injury and a surgery but still managed to wrap up the Women’s Pro title one round early with an overall victory at the Rockcrusher.

Second overall in the Women’s Pro class went to MEP MX/KTM’s MacKenzie Tricker, a minute-anda-half behind Jones, while Maxxis/KTM’s Becca Sheets rounded out the podium in third.

GasGas USA’s Korie Steede, was fourth overall, ahead of Team Green Kawasaki’s Shelby Rolen. Meanwhile, former Women’s Pro Motocross champion Jessica Patterson showed up to finish sixth.

JR Cook (KTM) was on his game and claimed a solid win over Billy Schlag (KTM) in the Pro-Am division.

Brewer Cawley (KTM) rounded out the podium in third.

Zach Nash (KTM) won the Open A division over Sam Forrester (KTM) and Andrew Matusak (Hsq). Meanwhile, Henry Symanski won the Lites A class over fellow Yamaha rider Dalton Seals. Dylan Zimpel was third on a Husqvarna.

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Kailub Russell (KTM)

2. Thad Duvall (Hsq)

3. Josh Strang (Kaw)

4. Layne Michael (Hsq)

5. Jordan Ashburn (Kaw)

6. Evan Smith (Hsq)

7. Jesse Ansley (KTM)

8. Mike Witkowski (Bet)

9. Craig DeLong (Hsq)

10. Ben Parsons (Hsq)

“There might be a chance I could race an know if it’s going to translate into actually

KAILUB RUSSELL

“It’s always nice to be able to wrap up a championship a race early and just take the pressure off. The Cross test, I enjoyed it the first time through but I couldn’t get the flow in it there and get creative enough with my lines. I just got nickled and dimed there. The very last time through it the line we’d been taking the first five times there was a tree in it. I noticed the root ball to the tree was in the rut that I was going to take and my bars knifed and it just catapulted me over the bars. Surprisingly I got up and still got second in the test. With that big of a crash I banged myself up pretty good. Bent my bars and twisted my front end all up. I was like, man, I just might have thrown away the win right here. I got up and I was pleased to come across the line and still see that I maintained my lead and the overall for today, which gave me the title. “There might be a chance I could race [an outdoor motocross] this year, but I don’t know if it’s going to translate into actually happening. There’s a possibility. I spent a little bit too much time this year at the beach and didn’t head down to Aldon’s quite soon enough. So now I head back down to Aldon’s to start getting ready for the last four GNCC’s. Then there might be a chance that I could ride an outdoor this year, but I’ve got about six more days of riding before I head to Aldon’s and I’m not sure if I’m going to be ready. But we’ll see. I would like to do it in the future for sure. It’s nice when you can get it all planned out and prepare properly. It’s really tough for me to do motocross. I don’t want to go in and underperform where I think I should be. I want to make sure I’m as fit and ready as possible. Some people may think I’m crazy. Like, you’re already fit. You raced for three hours. But it’s different. I’ve been racing off-road and three hours for so long, it’s a different ball game. It’s a whole different kind of fitness you’ve got to bring to the table. Unless you do it, you just can’t wrap your mind around it.”

an outdoor motocross] this year, but I don’t actually happening.”-

Kailub Russell

LAYNE MICHAEL

PHOTOS

LETTI’S KNOCKOUT PUNCH

MANUEL LETTENBICHLER WINS

NINTH ANNUAL TENNESSEE KNOCKOUT

nInTh-AnnUAL TEnnESSEE knoCkoUT

TRIALS TRAInInG CEnTER

SEQUATChIE, TEnnESSEE

AUGUST 18-20, 2019

Manuel Lettenbichler dominated this year’s Kenda Tennessee Knockout from the word Go, after posting the fastest time in Sunday morning’s Hot Lap at this year’s event.

The Red Bull KTM rider jumped into the lead at the drop of the green flag in the 30-minuteplus-one-lap main event and never looked back, finishing the event with a 1:57.085-second advantage over runner-up Mario Roman of Spain.

“After winning Romaniacs, it’s super awesome to also win at this race,” said Lettenbichler. “It’s just so intense and so different from what is normally on the schedule. I’m pretty pumped now to have two wins in a row.”

Roman ran in third place for the first half of the race before passing his factory Sherco teammate Wade Young to move into second. Young settled in behind Roman and finished with a safe cushion over Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker, with RPM/Maxxis/KTM’s Trystan Hart finishing fifth.

Trail Jesters KTM Racing’s Ben Kelley came in just about a full minute behind Hart for sixth.

After missing the event for a couple of years, Am Pro Yamaha’s Ricky Russell returned to the Trials Training Center to finish seventh. Russell turned in an impressive ride in Knockout #2 where he finished fourth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Tely Energy Racing’s Grant Baylor and new KTM rider Ronnie Commo.

Saturday also featured the Women’s Final, which was won by Beta USA’s Rachel Gutish, with KTM riders Shelby Turner and Nicole Bradford

MARIO ROMAN

Mario Roman moved from fourth place on the first lap to second place at the finish of the 30-minuteplus-one-lap final.

“I was fourth at the start and I struggled a little bit to pass Colton and Wade because the course this year was pretty much one line. I didn’t want to waste energy changing lines, so I followed them until Wade made a mistake. In the middle of the race I was able to pass him, and then I pushed hard but Manni was just too far away.”

finishing second and third.

“I am so thrilled to have finally won my first national championship,” said Gutish. “So much time and effort goes into making a dream like this a reality, and even then there’s no guarantees. The 2019 TKO women’s final was one of those rare races when everything goes perfectly. I got a fantastic start, stayed smooth and consistent lap after lap, and controlled the race from beginning to end. I was racing against the most talented field of women to ever line up at the Knock Out, and I couldn’t be happier with my results and performance! I’m so glad I could bring home a national championship for Beta after the series of injuries and setbacks I fought through earlier this season!”

Nate Smith won the Saturday morning race and moved on to finish 15th in Sunday’s final. Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Ryder LeBlond took the Amateur win to earn the AMA Amateur Extreme Enduro Grand National Championship.

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM)

2. Mario Roman (Shr)

3. Wade Young (Shr)

4. Colton Haaker (Hsq)

5. Trystan Hart (KTM)

6. Ben Kelley (KTM)

7. Ricky Russell (Yam)

8. Max Gerston (Bet)

9. Grant Baylor (KTM)

10. Ronnie Commo (KTM)

WADE YOUNG

WADE YOUNG

Wade Young battled with fellow Sherco rider Mario Roman for the runner-up postition, holding his teammate at bay until three laps to go.

“Mario and I had quite a good battle going. He was riding good and I didn’t realize he was quite a bit quicker than me. We were battling back and forth and I could feel that I pulled a gap, and then he would close me in. I think it would have been nice maybe if I knew what the outcome would be at the end to have let him go and so he could maybe battle for first place. But at the end of the day, I’m also racing. I gave it everything to try and stay in second but I just got tired towards the end and dropped to third.”

COLTON HAAKER

Colton Haaker spent most of the race by himself, eventually finishing fourth.

“This year was different from past years because it was so dry - no rain which is just different. I’ve never really been here when it’s been dry, so it was kind of wild. You weren’t fighting the bike as much probably as you would have if it was slippery and a little bit wet everywhere.

“I basically got into fourth place in the final and kind of just stayed there. I didn’t really have the pace of the first three guys, but I had a little more pace than the guys behind me, so I kind of rode all by myself. I just didn’t feel amazing today. Didn’t feel like I could put a 100% flawless effort in. I felt like I just was kind of off all around.”

TENNESSEE KNOCKOUT PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTOS

LITTLE RACOON

nATIonAL EnDURo

kEnDA AMA nATIonAL EnDURo SERIES

RoUnD 6

WELLSTon, ohIo

AUGUST 25, 2019

STEWARD BAYLOR

Grant Baylor won his second national enduro in a row, at this weekend’s Little Racoon National Enduro in Wellston, Ohio, round six of the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series.

The Tely Energy Racing KTM rider has also won three of the last four. And after winning all six tests for the second event in a row, he is now sitting on a 12-test win streak with seemingly nothing stopping him from extending the streak at the next round in Missouri in two weeks.

After sweeping all six tests, Grant finished the event with a 1:30.312-minute advantage over his brother and teammate Steward Baylor.

“Couldn’t ask for a better day,” said Grant. “It was a little slippery in places and you had to be on your toes and be careful and just be ready for when the front end goes to wash. But I didn’t hit the ground all day until the last test. I went down one time in the last test and won every test to-day. So, it was another awesome weekend.”

Despite finishing in the runner-up slot for the second race in a row, Steward Baylor still holds onto a 36-point lead in the series standings with four rounds remaining, and for Stew-ard, that is the main focus.

“I could have been a little more aggressive, but at the same time we’re looking at the championship,” said Steward. “If I can keep in second place, and if Grant wants to keep win-ning, I’ll let him keep winning. I’m happy with it. I’m looking for that championship and I know all I’ve got to do is ride smart and I’m in a really good position as far as that goes.”

Husqvarna/ Max Motorsports/FXR Racing’s Evan Smith rounded out the podium, despite taking a nasty fall just be-fore the end of the final test.

MIKE LAFFERTY

“I guess it was a good day,” said Smith. “I had a couple of de-cent-sized get-offs today. The last test, I overshot a ravine and just kind of went into a tree in the air. Not much I could do about it. That hurt a lot. So, I kind of struggled to finish, but other than that it was a good day. It took me a while to adjust to it being so slick, but once I got comfortable, I was able to ride pretty smooth and smart and not make too many mistakes.”

After struggling through a couple of races, GasGas North America’s Thorn Devlin put together an impressive perfor-mance to finish fourth.

“We just tried to get ourselves back out of a rut, and it worked,” said Devlin. “The name of the game today was just have fun, get our flow going again, and if everything fell to-gether, then great. I was just 50 seconds from a podium, so getting closer. Just going to keep working and we’ll get there.”

Fifth was Beta USA’s Mike Witkowski.

“The first four tests were pretty smooth and then I think the fifth test I got a little messed up in the last part, and I lost some time,” said Witkowski. “But section six was my best. I ended up third in that one, which was pretty good. Just had a lot of fun at this one. I think this is my best one yet.”

Tely Energy Racing KTM’s Liam Draper was nursing a cracked pelvis from a crash at the Tennessee Knockout the previous week, but still managed sixth overall and first in the NE Pro2 division.

“I enjoyed this place last year when we had a sprint here, so I was looking forward to it, it’s slick.” said Draper. “I got off to a pretty decent start. I just had fun all day and kept my head down and managed to get another win. I’m just trying to stay on the bike.”

Former national enduro winner and extreme off-road ace Nick Fahringer brought his Sherco in for seventh overall. Meanwhile, Tely Energy Racing KTM’s Ron Commo III grabbed eighth just 2.841 seconds ahead of Alex Teagarden (Hsq). Commo and Teagarden also finished second and third, respectively, in the NE Pro2 class.

Michael Pilar was 10th overall and first in the AA class on a Yamaha.

Amazingly, eight-time National Enduro Champ Mike Lafferty rode a KTM 790 Adventure R to 10th overall in the AA class.

“Last year I raced my ’97 KTM. The year before that I raced a 1090, I want to do something a little different this year, so I thought this would be the perfect race to ride the 970,” said Lafferty. “It was a blast.”

The Women’s Elite race was a battle between Mepmx/ Fly/Grizzly Peak/Traveler’s Rest Speedway/KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker and Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna/Moose Husqvarna’s Tayla Jones, with Tricker getting the win by 9.880 seconds ahead of Jones.

Kelsey Pacholke finished third on a Husqvarna.

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Grant Baylor (KTM)

2. Steward Baylor (KTM)

3. Evan Smith (Hsq)

4. Thorn Devlin (GG)

5. Mike Witkowski (Bet)

6. Liam Draper (KTM)

7. Nick Fahringer (Shr)

8. Ron Commo III (KTM)

9. Alex Teagarden (Hsq)

10. Michael Pillar (Yam)

PHOTOS

Qualifying was the easy part.…

How to prepare for the ISDE

By RAChEL GUTISh

Now, it’s true that there are riders who spend the better part of their riding careers trying to make an ISDE club team. There are some riders who will never make it, and plenty who know better than to even try. But have you ever wondered what happens after a club rider qualifies? As far as the AMA and the Trophy Team fundraising efforts are concerned, the Club Team riders are on their own financially, and the costs can quickly add up. While I was never a Club rider, everything I talk about here comes directly from experience; the years I rode on the Women’s World Trophy Team (2012 – 2016), we were treated like club riders from a financial standpoint.

Time Commitment

First, there is a huge time commitment involved in getting ready for the ISDE. Besides the physical training required to have a successful event, there are plenty of other things you need to do to get your effort off the ground. You invest countless hours into packing your crate (which contains your tools, bike, parts, gear, and

other miscellaneous items you might need), making hotel and flight reservations, finding a bike to send over, checking and rechecking your packing lists, fielding emails from the AMA/FIM, and getting your passport, international driver’s license, and other important papers you will need for the event. Some countries also have extensive customs requirements, where every item, plus its weight and the quantity you have of them must be listed on the packing list. This doesn’t sound bad until you realize they really meant every item, and you’re in the garage with a food scale and a calculator counting every nut in your bolt box.

Financial Commitment

The ISDE is an expensive event. Based off my previous experiences, here is a rough average of what you might expect to have invested in the event, not counting the time and money spent qualifying for the race. Remember that these numbers are averages, and some events are more expensive than others. Most of the races in South America and Eastern Europe aren’t bad as far as travel and living expenses. Europe, especially tourist destinations like Italy, Spain and Germany tend to be more expensive.

Flights

AMA Hotel Plan1

AMA Dinner Plan1

Other Meals

Rental Car/Gas

Team Dues/Paperwork2

Eco Tires and bibs3

$1000 per person

$2500 per room for two people

$400 per person

$500 per person

$700

$2000

$1000

1) While the AMA hotel and dinner plan are not required, they are highly suggested. Buying the package saves you a lot of headache and isn’t a bad deal. Lastly, being in the same hotel as most of the other US crew makes it less likely you will miss a team meeting and allows you to be around your fellow riders and support crew.

2) This includes the cost of shipping the container overseas, the gas and supplies for the work area, plus any additional FIM paperwork or international driver’s licenses you might need to apply for.

3) FIM rules require you to run an eco-tire, which comes with much shorter

knobs. This is due to some requirements European countries have for off-road competition. It also means the tires don’t last very long, since they’re the equivalent of a worn tire before you even get it on your bike. If you like having any traction whatsoever, you need to have a new rear tire for the first five days, and at least two or three front tires as well.

I was still high school age when I went on most of my ISDE adventures. Because of this, my parents picked up the difference between the cost, whatever I could make working part-time in the summers and what we fundraised. Therefore, until I went to write this story, I didn’t actually know the dollar figure for a trip to the ISDE cost. I was a little horrified when I found out, but as my parents said, “The event may be expensive, but those memories are priceless. We never would have traveled to those places or had those experiences otherwise.”

The ISDE is more than a motorcycle race. It is a chance to represent your country in international competition and spend two weeks in a foreign country expanding your own horizons.

The Joys of Fundraising

Unless you are independently wealthy, it’s going to be a struggle to come up with that kind of money out-of-pocket. That’s where fundraising kicks in. Personally, I was usually able to raise enough money to cover about half of our costs of going to the event. Here are some of the things we tried, some of which were more successful than others.

1) T-Shirts: I still have ISDE 2012 fundraiser shirts sitting in the back of my closet. The key here is to make sure you don’t end up ordering too many shirts. If you do, it is entirely possible that you will actually lose money. With that being said, t-shirts are a very popular fundraising option and do work well for most people.

2) Sponsorships: This won’t help you from a monetary standpoint, unless you get a local business involved. But if you don’t already have gear sponsorships, or a drink system, or need headlights or want spare parts, there are a lot of US-based racing companies that are happy to help you out by sending some free product to use at the event. Since I was only 16 when I went the first time, I hadn’t built up any of the relationships I have with companies now. But calling or emailing a company doesn’t cost you anything except a bit of your time. Your time may be in short supply, but it’s still usually worth doing.

3) Spaghetti Dinners: The challenge with these is that if they are done for the general public, you will have to explain the entire event to them, which can be challenging if their only motorcycling experience is with the neighbor’s Harley. Then you have the further challenge of explaining why they should support your efforts. All of this must be done before the dinner if you hope to have people show up. If you have a built-in network of non-riding people, like at a church, community group or a school, you have a much better chance of making this a success. It would probably work better to do a spaghetti dinner at a race (unless a company or other rider beats you to it), though we never tried it ourselves.

4) Ride Days: This was by far my favorite type of fundraiser! It works especially well here in the East where we don’t have vast public lands where you can ride for cheap or free. All you need is to find a friendly landowner who will let you cut some trail or even better, who already has some. I cannot thank the Sims family enough for generously letting me use their property (the best single-track in In-

diana) as the site for a fundraiser ride every year I qualified. It’s nice because you feel like people are really getting something nice for the money they donate, and the event itself is usually a ton of fun to put on too!

Online Fundraising: This is a good option if there are people out there who would like to support you, but don’t want a t-shirt and live too far away for a ride day or spaghetti dinner. It was usually brought in the least out of all my efforts, but on the bright side, there is no investment cost.

Buy or Rent

After you’ve spent all this energy and effort getting to the ISDE, the last thing you want to do is have a mechanical failure. Unless you’re Charlie Williams, who once said he spent the first half of the ISDE trying to baby the bike along so it would finish and then the last half trying to blow it up so he’d have a good excuse to quit, there is never a moment where a breakdown is anything short of heartbreaking. This means that sending one of your practice bikes (which makes the major assumption that you do have two bikes) or even a bike that you’ve got half a season on, is not the best idea. If you do send a used bike you HAVE

TO have a dealership or reliable mechanic go through it with a fine-tooth comb. The bike will undergo incredible stress during the course of the event and receive minimal maintenance at best.

If you really don’t want to buy or send one of your own bikes, you do have the option of renting a bike for the event. The benefits of renting a bike are that you have slightly less to worry about from a logistical standpoint, you get to trash someone else’s new machine, and don’t have to come up with all the money needed to buy a motorcycle yourself. Additionally, the companies renting bikes usually have some parts support there, so you don’t have to worry about bringing every spare part that you could possibly need. The major disadvantage is that the price of a rental machine is really high – I seem to remember it being one-third to one-half the cost of buying a new bike! You’re also limited in what you can rent –mostly just the European brands like KTM, Husky, GasGas and Beta, and those can change year-to-year as well. Unless you ride your bikes bone-stock, you’ll still have to bring your suspension and any other goodies or aftermarket parts you’ll need to be comfortable.

Shipping your crate

If you are shipping a bike, you get a space for a full-size crate. If you rent, you get space for a half-size crate. Either way, you build or buy the crate yourself (and if it isn’t to spec, God help you) and have to have it sitting in Whitehouse, Ohio by a specified date. You are responsible for the costs associated with getting the crate to Ohio. Whether you buy or build, remember this is going to have to hold up to international travel, will probably have other crates sitting on top of it, and needs to be able to protect your bike and have some kind of interior design to keep everything from bouncing around and getting banged up. When your crate arrives in Whitehouse, it sits with the other crates until loading day. The Mastin Family, Dave Chamberlain, Paul Bucher and usually Jeff Fredette will spend at least a day and sometimes longer, wedging everything into the AMA’s 40-ft shipping container like a giant horizontal game of Tetris. Since I live relatively close by, I would usually drive my crate over and help with Container Day. It’s truly a massive undertaking, and the first thing you should do when you get to the event is to thank them for all of their hard work. Although many riders complain about the container fee charged by the AMA, we all get a better deal by shipping collectively, and it would be a logistical nightmare trying to make the shipping arrangements on your own.

If You Want It, Bring It!

Yes, they have hardware and grocery stores overseas, but it is much easier if you bring what you think you’re going to need. Wandering around lost in a hardware store looking for a set of Allen drivers is much harder when all of the signs are in Slovak. You also never know what you’re getting into with the food situation either. They will have bananas, sure, but you might not be able to find your preferred flavor of Gatorade or Clif bar over there. It never hurts to stick a jar of your favorite peanut butter in there either, just so that you always have a backup plan. This mentality may have also been why I earned the “team’s heaviest crate” label every year I went to the ISDE.

Your Trusted Companion/s

Every Club rider is required to bring at least one companion with them. This will not be a vacation for them either. Those who aren’t riding are still expected to contribute to the team effort (If you’re interested, Dirt Rider did a really cool story on the behind-the-scenes efforts of the workers and volunteers at the ISDE). If your wife or mom or girlfriend doesn’t know the first thing about motorcycles, that’s no free pass. They can slice bananas or carry gas cans or keep time at the checkpoints, or they can work the spaghetti tent at Parc Ferme and help clean up the work area and reload the container at the end of the day. More experienced volunteers do the allowable bike work (oil changes and radiator refills), prep fresh tires and air filters, gas the bikes and patiently explain to a panicky rider how to fix the (fill in the blank here) that got broken or quit working since the last check.

My mom, who by now might be able to tell a two-stroke and four-stroke apart (one of them has that big pipe right?), always worked the Parc Ferme, where she was given a clipboard and told to keep time for all of the riders in the work area, making sure they knew how much time they had and when they needed to leave. This doesn’t sound complicated, until you have fifteen riders in the work area who are all on different minutes and need to be told every few minutes how much time they have left before they need to go. While not all jobs have the same level of responsibility, you definitely want to make sure whoever you bring is reliable and willing to work hard in whatever capacity they can. Each worker that comes with a rider gets a day or two off to go spectate, so it’s not a total grindfest. But everyone is supposed to pull their weight, and assist any American rider, not just their own.

International Travel

This actually isn’t as frustrating as you might imagine. Every major international airport I’ve been in has directions and signs in English in addition to the native language, so usually it’s not much harder to navigate an airport overseas than it is to get through one back home. The harder part is usually getting in your rental car and finding your hotel and Parc Ferme (staging area). We would always hang out and wait in the airport until we saw another American rider (this is a good time to wear your fundraiser shirt or really any motorcycle shirt, especially an event t-shirt from a race back home). Most riders eventually end up at the same airport near the event, so odds are you should be able to buddy up with them. That way if you get lost, at least the two of you can be lost together. Getting maps and related things in advance back home and bringing them with you can also make traveling much smoother. You may have internet access at the airport because of WiFi, but you won’t have any internet access or cell service off the WiFi unless you bought an international calling plan before you left home.

Recouping some funds

After the event, many riders will try to sell take-off parts, gear, used tires, leftover tires and old ISDE fundraiser t-shirts to the locals. Some riders even pack the extra spaces in the crate with old gear and other worn-out stuff to sell after the event. Do bear in mind the exchange rate matters though. We got burned pretty badly in Argentina because their economy at the time was so fragile that many banks wouldn’t even exchange the Argentine Peso for American Dollars. When we finally found a bank that would take it, we ended up with about enough for a couple cups of coffee. We would have been better off either not selling the stuff or using our pesos to buy stuff to bring home with us (believe it or not my favorite hiking boots, that are still in good shape years later, were purchased for almost nothing down there). Most of all though, for the love of God do NOT sell your motorcycle. US Customs will inspect the crate when they notice the weight is off, all the other riders will hate you because our stuff will be delayed for months, and when customs realizes what you have done they will fine you so badly you will end up owing them whatever you sold the bike for and possibly more. Congrats!

You have now survived one of the most stressful, grueling ad expensive events in all of motorcycle racing…. getting ready for the ISDE. After all that, 600+ miles racing against the best enduro riders in the world sounds downright easy! n

GooD oLD TIMES BLoG 1921-30: ROARING DECADENCE

By kEnnETh oLAUSSon PhoToS: hUSQvARnA

Peace upon the world changed everything. Good Old Times had arrived, and people were drinking and dancing. The beginning of the 20s was a decade full of joy and laughter. On the streets you could see motorcycles and other vehicles moving freely. Husqvarna had just introduced their first in-house manufactured two-wheel machine, driven by a nice 550cc V-engine. But the most popular motorcycles were the affordable 250cc bikes, which sold like hot cakes… The background actually came from the war when it was decided that Sweden, as far as possible, should fabricate its own products. Deliveries from abroad could be a drain as raw materials were scarce in these days. So, everybody looked after their barns in order to stash and fill them up with adequate goods. Here is some more background to the evolution of Husqvarna’s first own motorcycle. Engineer Gustaf Göthe was partly responsible for R&D, research and developments… “Riding comfort was a neglected factor in the beginning of the 20th century,” said Gustaf Göthe. “One of my missions included improving the riding charac-

teristics of our motorcycles. Above all, we wanted a well-balanced bike that was neither too heavy nor too weak. It had to be strong for the roads that were not in the best shape in those days. The engine was supposed to be strong and elastic, dependable and free from vibrations. We considered that a gearbox with three speeds would do the job.

“I made my first mistake by neglecting the importance of the wheel-base, which I had made too long. The machine wormed like a snake, so I had to do something about that. You know, a motorcycle can never grow longer than at its birth. But it can for sure turn shorter if you meet a car head on, or flatter if you should put it under a train at a crossing.

“Developing a new power source turned out to be more of a challenge. Importing machinery from England was difficult after the war as goods were scarce at that moment. But I went over there and bought an AJS and some other bikes, with which I started experimenting heavily. My work was delayed as there was no test bench available at the factory. Instead I had to go to the nearby Klevaliden ascent, where machine tests could be performed in a hill climb. It was the secondbest thing to do and worked well, save the fact that I could not carry out any

brake trials here. This was a result of times in crises but would improve with the years. My initial two-cylinder model 150 resulted in a V-engine with the capacity of 550cc. It had solid cooling fins, side-valves and an Amac carburettor for maximum performance. The only parts that I was not allowed to change were the front forks as they were plentiful in our warehouse…”

After the model 150 came the improved 160, which was put on the market in 1921. This version went through the mill during three seasons and was followed by model 170 two years later. Now, we are writing about the year of 1923 and Husqvarna’s bikes are becoming more and more popular with each passing year. The 180 came in 1926 and next in line was the 190, which was launched in 1929. We are still talking about the motorcycle with the twin-cylinder 550cc V-engine at hand, but it was improved with each new version during this successful decade. Husqvarna also produced a sturdy 1000cc machine, which was presented to the market in 1921. Nicknamed “the Camel” by the factory employees, this sturdy machine was mainly meant for carrying passengers in its popular sidecar version. It was powered by a twin-cylinder V-engine with a capacity of 994cc and had model 500 as a benchmark from the start. One can easily hear rowdy pub people in the crowd, discuss this animal offspring, referring to the desert beast. Anyway, it was manufactured for three consecutive years before the 600 arrived in 1923 and then the 610 came into production by 1926. All in all, the one-litre power-camel existed in its initial layout until the end of 1928, when it would be abandoned.

In the need for speed, Husqvarna also realised that there was a market for smaller bikes, which were affordable for most customers. In 1927 they presented the model 20, which soon became the 25. This outfit consisted of a 175cc side-valve JAP engine. It was nicknamed “the Kitten” and went through the factory until 1931 when it had turned into model 30 with a JAP side-valve 245cc power source. The 30 model was introduced already in 1929, being then manufactured for the coming six years. The 30 inherited the nickname of “Kitten” from its predecessor and was also equipped with the 250 JAP. The 30 had a performance of 7.5 horsepower at best. The cylinder, together with the cylinder head, was cast in one piece as this method was simpler and more economic for Husqvarna at the time. With a ride height of 64 cm the brochure promised customers a comfortable riding position on the machine’s Terry-saddle.

In 1930 there was also a 490cc JAP-engined machine available and even a 496cc Sturmey-Archer motor was being introduced. Looking at the sales figures from Husqvarna, it was clear that motorcycling had caught many people’s eye in the roaring 20s. According to factory statistics, the Swedes sold approximately 7,500 units in the decade from 1921 to 1930. Unfortunately, these motorcycle figures were not matched in the coming years. During the 30s and through the Second World War production declined severely for obvious reasons. n

2019 Schedule

• February 24 - CTC Fun Trial

• March 30-31 - Trials Training Days

• May 4-5 - Splish Spalsh Trial (STRA)

• June 23-26 - Family Camp

• June 27-29 - East Coast Youth Nationals & Women’s Open

• June 28 - TdN Fundraiser Gate Trial

• June 30 - July 4 - Great American Teen Camp (Invitational)

• August 16-18 - 9th Annual Kenda Tennessee Knock Out

• September TBA - ITSA Vintage Trial National

• October 19-20 - 27th Annual 58K Fall Trial

• December 1 - Troy Trial - CTC Winter Series Round 1

LEADERSINELECTRIC DIRT,TRIALSAND MOTOCROSS MOTORCYCLESFORKIDS

Globallyrecognisedas the bestbeginner motorcyclesforchildren todevelopandimprovetheir skillsandconfidence.Being electrictheyhave nohot parts,require nogas and are virtuallysilent which meansriderscanusethem everydayinplacesother bikescannotgo...

TRS Motorcycles

TRS ONE RR

ADAM RAGA RACING

USA DEALERS

Dirt Riders West - Mike Carlton, 800.467.0604, Scottsdale, AZ

Lewisport USA - Adrian & Mandy Lewis, 209.785.6878, Copperopolis, CA

Balance Trials Supply - Bill Haskell - 720.207.7715 - Erie, CO

Trial Store USA - Alex Niederer - 941.404.0757 - Bradenton, FL

Aloha Trials - Clayton Oshita, 808.822.2706, Kapaa, HI

Northwest Cycle - Ron Rivenburgh, 815.344.7780, McHenry, IL

Jack’s Cycles - Stuart Preston, 207.337.1274, South Berwick, ME

Competition Wheels - James McKenzie, 704.906.3238, Concord, NC

HVC Cycle - Brad Obidowski, 402.817.4795, Lincoln, NE

Miller Ranch Trials - Aaron & Andy Miller 607.765.8362 Corning, NY

Torne Mountain Trial - Jon France, 914.490.0637, Hillburn, NY

Adroit Engineering - Jon Rentschler, 440.668.3207, Chardon, OH

Gran Prix Cycle - Gary & Robyn Byers, 541.926.3139, Albany, OR

MotoMex - Danny Aguirre, 214.912.9005, Dallas, TX

Skagit Powersports - Gary Lawver, 360.757.7999, Burlington, WA

TTC - Charlie Roberts, 423.942.8688, Sequatchie, TN

YEAR IN REVIEW 2019 US MoToTRIALS SERIES

The 2019 US National MotoTrials Series is in the books and by all accounts is was a successful year. Numbers were up and the Pro class featured a strong number of riders. The 2019 season featured an eigth-round, fourweekend series, based through the summer, and New Mexico’s Sam Fastle was kind enough to give us a wrapup of the season.

The 2019 AMA/NATC Trial Store USA nationals involved some different traveling then what I have done in years past. In past summers, I would take many weeks to travel across the country with the RYP USA team to attend all the nationals. This year, with a 6-month-old son and 6-year-old daughter, I could not be away from my family for weeks at a time. I was also completing my final internship for my Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering degree with RYP and needed to be at work for the days in between the nationals to complete my undergraduate experience. These two factors meant that I would spend more time traveling as I hustled to and from the nationals making sure I didn’t miss too much at home.

Luckenback

May 17th-18th

The first event that kicked off the 2019 season was the first Super Trial round in Lucken-bach, Texas. o save money, I carpooled with Ryan Young and his family down to Luckenbach as he hauled a spare trailer with extra bikes and gear. Normally we would make a family trip to Lucken-bach as it is one of the most fun events I have ever attended, but with Dash only being 6 months old, he was a little too young to be making the 17-hour drive. My parents made the drive out to Texas from New Mexico and I was able to enjoy the weekend with them. The event took place Fri-day and Saturday and while I had fun it was a disappointing performance on my part. I tied for fifth in the splatter competition and finished last in the Shout-out event. I felt shaky and out of control with little confidence to do anything. It was a tough event to start the season out with, but in my eternally optimistic nature I smiled and looked forward to the next event hoping to be more re-laxed and have better results. I piled back in the little blue RYP bus with Ryan and his family and we drove back to Louisville that Sunday. I would have 3 days at home before it was time to head out to Nebraska.

Nebraska May 25th-26th

After working 3 days and helping out at home, I climbed in my truck and drove the 11 hours out to Nebraska on Thursday. As I neared Omaha, it was dark and a thunderstorm was rolling in from the West as I rolled in from the East. The lightning began to strike all around and it seemed as though I was driving on a land bridge through the middle of the ocean. With each flash all I could see was the standing water from the floods that had ravaged the flat farmland of Nebraska and Iowa. Then the torrential downpour started and it was tough to see anything through the wall of water. Fortunately I arrived safely at my hotel. Friday I spent preparing for the events on Satur-day and Sunday and picked up my brother Jordan, who was going to mind for me, from the airport. Nebraska was a well laid out event and was fun, but again I disappointed myself with my perfor-mance on Saturday. I would be riding great and then would just have a mental slip and it looked like I had never been on a motorcycle before. It was very frustrating. I still had a blast and was ex-cited for the rest of the season because

I could only improve from my performance at the first two venues. I decided to head back to Kentucky Sunday night because another storm was rolling in and I did not want to get stuck because of flooding. I drove home all night and made it back to Ken-tucky safe and sound. I would again have another 3 days before I left Thursday after work to head to Minnesota.

Minnesota

June 1st-2nd

Minnesota was 13 hours away from Kentucky and I was planning on driving there by myself, but fortunately I was able to carpool with the Vorseth family. They were gracious enough to let me have a spot in their truck and save each other from having to drive all night solo. We arrived at the event site around 9 in morning on Friday and that was a difficult day of preparation because we had driven all night. But with the help from FactoryONE and RYP USA I was able to get my Factory Sher-co 300 ready for another weekend of fierce competition in the

red iron dust of Minnesota. There were shoot-out sections on Saturday at this venue and that is always a lot of fun. My performance slightly improved from the previous weekends and I didn’t end up breaking anything major, so I was happy with the weekend. I knew I could still ride much better but tried not to be too discour-aged. I just had to keep smiling and giving my best effort. After the event Sunday, I packed up with the Vorseth’s and we cruise all night back to Kentucky. Finally though there would be a weekend in between the next rounds and I would have a chance to breathe a little. It was nice to be able to spend time with my family. The Eastern rounds were over and I could start preparing mentally for the Western rounds.

Colorado

June 15th -16th

The Western rounds were too far to be able to do any all-night driving to so I got the tor-ture of flying to those ones. I say torture because when you are 6’ 3” and have the legs of a 7’ string bean, you just don’t fit very well in the airplane seats. For the Colorado event I flew to my native home of Albuquerque, New Mexico and drove up to the site with my parents on the Thurs-day before. I enjoyed having that drive with them and being to catch up with the new happenings in our lives. Friday was another day of preparation and then came the gut-wrenching weekend of the event. Colorado was my least favorite event of the year. The sections were big and ended up being pretty fun, but the danger factor was too high, and my nerves were shot at the end of the weekend from all the anxiety of worrying about death. It wasn’t the size of the obstacles that was the issue, but just the fact that there was no where for my minder to stand and catch in case I didn’t make it. A lot of prayers were said that weekend for safety and thankfully I made it with only a few minor bumps and bruises. I was glad to be leaving there Sunday night and I passed out when we finally made it back to my parent’s house. After a brief visit to see my grandparents in the morning on Monday, I flew home to Kentucky to prepare to fly back out on Thursday for the final weekend in Oregon.

Oregon June 22nd-23rd

Oregon is one of my favorite places to ride. The terrain is great, it is absolutely beautiful, close to the ocean, and the food at La Provence Boulangerie &

Patisserie is knock your socks off good. I flew out there Thursday and that could not have been more of an adventure. I was sup-posed to arrive at 11 pm and meet up with my buddy Luke to then drive out to the hotel in Tilla-mook about an hour away. Well my flights were delayed and I didn’t up landing until 12:30 am on Friday and which left Luke hanging and meant that we didn’t make it to the hotel until 2:30 in the morning. It just made my love for flying grow that much more. Friday morning I prepped my bike and then left to pick up my friend Ron form the airport who I would be rooming with for the weekend. On our way back we got stuck in traffic leaving Portland and were held up at the rental car office trying to swap cars because ours had a flat. It was just another day full of adventures. Ron and I however, were able to make it to the site with just enough time to complete technical in-spection and get in a few more hours of riding. Then we were also able to make it to the Tillamook creamery for some well-deserved pizza and ice cream to finish off the day. In fact, we made a trip to that creamery for pizza and ice cream on Saturday and Sunday as well and it was the best ending to some great days of riding. Oregon was a lot of fun and I had some fairly decent results there. It was a great way to finish off the season and put my 11th year of riding nationals in the books. I flew home Monday and was fortunate enough to not encounter any issues. I was glad to be home with my family and to have had the opportunity to make such great memories. Big thank you to all my sponsors especially FactoryONE Mototrials, Ryan Young Products, and Sherco USA. Even bigger thank you to my wife Whitney who is an angel and I am so grateful for her efforts and sacrifices in letting me travel and compete! I can’t wait to do it again next year! n

Trials Inc at Toronto

By Stephanie Vetterly

July 20/21,

2019

History has shown that events hosted at Cable’s Creek Campground in Toronto, OH are either on days of very high temperatures or days of extreme rain. This year’s event, July 20 and 21, hosted by Trials Incorporated was no different, claiming temperatures of 90-95 degrees and humidity levels around 70%. While those conditions kept a few people away, they didn’t stop the more than 40 riders in attendance from having a great time.

Trials Master Eric Olmstead has a long history with the Cable’s Creek property, having attended the Ohio Valley BSA Owner’s Club bi-annual vintage events since childhood. This means that he has seen a good portion of the property and knows where some of the best sections can be established with minimal work. There are some challenges, however, and some things that must be kept in mind when planning for an event in the middle of summer. The creek is probably the most important of these challenges. For those who have never had the pleasure

of seeing the property firsthand, the campground is split in half by County Road 56. One side consists of the shower house, pavilions, and a nice flat stretch of ground for camping. This side contains a portion of Island Creek, a body of water that spans the length of County Road 56, meeting the Ohio River on one end and ends almost 8 miles the other direction near Richmond, OH. Depending on the amount of rain for the season, Island Creek can fill up fast and move quickly. There are some areas on the other side of this creek that serve as nice challenging sections but adding them to the section roster is always a gamble. The last thing any Trials Master (and crew) wants to do is put time and energy into areas that they can’t use.

Island Creek received so much rain in the weeks prior to the event that the water rose almost 8-10 feet up the bank and flooded the shower house with four inches of silt. It took a team of people to shovel the silt out of the building and get the water heater cleaned and functional. While the high temperatures may not be ideal for a warm shower, it’s always nice to have the option. Many thanks go to Ted and Reb Guthrie and Ron Cattrell for all the hard work getting the building clean and operational.

The other side of the property consists of another creek that runs up the mountain. A similar problem exists with this creek as does Island Creek. The more rain the property sees, the faster the water flows and the more the rock bottom shifts,

creating a bonus challenge for the lower-class riders.

Another challenge exists with establishing the loop connecting all the sections. While the BSA Club’s annual dual-sport ride keeps a lot of the trails cut in, a number of areas that need to be heavily trimmed to allow riders safe passage. There are countless places that are prime for sections if you know what you’re doing, but they are either too hidden in trees and brush, or they are at the top of steep rocky hills. As much as Eric would love to work some new areas into the loop, he knows he can only really use an area if all the skill classes can navigate to that area. 2019 marks the third year that Eric has played host to the Toronto event, and with his learned experience, he decided to make a few changes. Due to the neverending rainfall the summer has provided, he kept riders away from Island Creek; as a last-minute decision, he added a few sections by the creek on the other side of the property. He also chose to keep both Saturday and Sunday’s loops down to eight sections, as he felt that ten sections paired with the high temperature would be a little more challenging for riders than the event needed to be. He kept each section with no more than three splits/gates per class. In a video by Trials Inc and Stephanie Vetterly Photography, Eric took a couple moments to explain how

he sets up sections, covering topics such as choosing an area to create a section, choosing the lines, and proper cleaning of the section for safety purposes.

As many of the Youth riders are growing into bigger bikes and bigger challenges, the next generation of riders are beginning their trials career. Newer to Trials Inc is Matilda Revoyr; riding the Youth B class, she dominated Saturday’s event, taking only 15 points. On Sunday, she improved to a score of 5 points, but was bested by Olivia Patton who dropped only a single point. Olivia’s sister Paige took third place with a score of 21 points. The Youth A class saw Jocyiah Keltner battling Brandon Hirsch for podium position; Jocyiah took the win on Saturday with 11 points, only four points ahead of Brandon. Sunday was a much tighter competition; both boys dropped a single point on the day. Brandon ended up with the win as Jocyiah dropped his point on his second loop, while Brandon was able to hold out until loop three before having to put a foot down.

Trials Inc welcomed some new faces to the club in the Novice class, among whom were Matthew Reavley, Jeff Gruntman, Randy and Jamie Summerville, Thomas McQuillan, and Jacob Hoffman. Matthew Reavley battled Jeff for first place, ending the day with 10 and 13 points respectively. While Jeff was unable to attend Sunday’s event, Matthew was pushed to a fifth-place finish. Randy was able to improve

on his 18 point third place finish on Saturday to tie Logan Conley with nine points on Sunday, only to drop to a second-place finish by a single clean. Jamie was able to improve points from 21 on Saturday (fifth-place finish) to 14 points on Sunday (sixth-place finish).

In addition to the Conley family, another trials family has entered the scene. In addition to Olivia and Paige Patton enjoying the Youth classes, mom Heather and dad Dan have become addicted to the sport. Heather has been riding for the past two years in the Novice class; she earned a fourth-place finish on Saturday with 19 points and a seventh-place finish on Sunday with 26 points. Dan has been riding for several years, and currently competes in the Intermediate class. He earned a first-place finish on Saturday with 14 points, taking the win over “Toni” Bill Clark who finished with 34 points, and decided to sit out for Sunday’s event due to the high temperatures.

Seth Vorseth enjoyed a beautiful birthday weekend in the Advanced class, taking second-place finishes both days (Saturday – 9 cleans and 46 points; Sunday – 15 cleans and 28 points). Jason Wright was able to claim wins for both days, barely able to stay ahead of Seth (Saturday – 9 cleans and 44 points; Sunday – 20 cleans and 28 points).

In all, the weekend’s competition was a huge success; there were motorcycles, great friends, and a pizza vendor. What more could you ask for?

To see the full schedule for Trials Incorporated, visit www.trialsinc.org. See you on the loop! n

Bracken Battlefield

2019 ACU Belle Trailers Youth National Series - Final Round

The final round of the 2019 ACU Belle Trailers Youth National series was held at the famous Bracken Rocks venue in Derbyshire. Several Championship titles were up for grabs, and the riders in each class came in knowing what they needed to do to come out on top.

Traditionally, the final round is a tougher event, aimed at sorting out the positions. On this occasion, the sections were on the easier side, giving added pressure on riders to stay focussed through the day. In each class, the title contenders stayed almost exclusively in single digits on each loop, even with some silly fives thrown in.

In the D Class small wheels the likely champion was either Jacob Wilson from the Isle of Man, or Mason Crawford from Northern Ireland. Mason came into the event leading, and knowing he needed a first or second place to be assured

the Championship. Jacob knew he had to win, with Mason 4th or lower to take the crown. Both riders deserve enormous credit for their performances under such pressure. Both did exactly what they had to do. On lap one, Mason, Jacob, and Bobby Crabtree all dropped 7 points. On lap two Jacob had a fantastic clean lap, with Mason improving to 4 and Bobby on another 7. On the final lap, Mason started with a 5 on section 1, which he had cleaned on the previous lap. Jacob then fived section 6. The pressure was getting to them perhaps! Mason, Jacob and Bobby all had their worst laps with 9 points. A late charge from Edwyn James with a 6 point final lap and Tom Gibbins with 8 was not enough to climb the podium… but was close!

After all the drama, the win on the day went to Jacob Wilson, with Mason taking second, and Bobby third. Well done to all! The Championship went to the ever-smiling Mason Crawford – the 2019 D class National Champion! All riders in this class deserve a pat on the back. Once again, the OSET 20.0R proved its mettle and was the bike of choice for all contenders.

The same is not true in the medium wheel classes, where petrol 80cc machines prevail. The one exception in 2019 was Elliot Smith on his OSET 24.0 in the C class. Elliot came into the final round having won 5 of the previous rounds - and needing a 4th or better to take the title. The Isle of Man’s Stanley Cubbon needed a win to put on some pressure, and came away from lap one on 5, with Elliot close behind on 6. On lap two, Stanley faltered with 12, while Elliot also made some mistakes for 8. On the final lap, Stanley carded 8, while Elliot studied the challenging sections again, and it paid off for a 4 point loop. So, in the end, Elliot won with a 7 point margin over Stanley, and took OSET’s 9th National title. Credit also to Matilda Arbon, who was not far behind and took the final podium position!

Well done also to all in the older groups – with top positions, as always – filled by ex-OSET riders. Roll on 2020! n

2019 WORLD SUPER ENDURO

Dec 8 Krakow, Poland

Jan 5 Riesa, Germany

Jan 26 Madrid, Spain

Feb 9 Budapest, March 9 Bilbao, Spain

2019 FIM WORLD ENDURO

April 12-14

TBA May 10-12 Santiago, May 17-19 Valpacos, June 14-16 Ajaccio, Corsica

June 21-23 Rovetta, Italy

Sept 13-15 Janovice, Czech Sept 27-29 Ambert, France

2019 FIM WORLD ENDURO

May 10-12

Extreme XL

May 17-19 Trèfle Lozérien

May 30-June 2 Erzbergrodeo, TBA Classic Enduro, July 30-Aug 4 Red Bull Romaniacs, Sept 21-22 Hawkstone

Oct 5-6 Solsona Enduro, Nov 2-3 GetzenRodeo,

2019 INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS November 11-16 Portimao, 22019

WWW.SPRINTENDURO.COM

Feb 9-10 Gaston, SC

March 2-3 Blackshear, GA

April 6-7 Greeneville, TN

May 25-26 Glen Daniel, WV

June 15-16 Bristol, VA

July 13-14 Fairmount City, PA

ENDURO

Poland

Germany

Spain

Budapest, Hungary

Spain

CHAMPIONSHIP

Spain

Portugal

Corsica

Italy

Czech Republic

France

SUPER

SERIES

XL Lagares, Pprtugal

Lozérien AMV, France

Erzbergrodeo, Austria)

Enduro, Italy

Romaniacs, Romania

Hawkstone Park Cross Country, UK

Enduro, Spain

GetzenRodeo, Germany

DAYS ENDURO

Portugal

Aug 10-11 Hayesville, NC

Sept 1-2 Laurens, SC

2019 WORCS

Jan 11-13 Primm, NV

Feb 1-3

March 1-3

Glen Helen, CA

Lake Havasu City, AZ

March 15-17 Peoria, AZ

April 12-14

Las Vegas, NV

April 26-28 Milford, CA

May 17-19 Mesquite, NV

July 31-Aug 4 Grays Harbor, WA

Sept 6-8

Glen Helen, CA

Sept 27-29 Taft, CA

Oct 25-27 Primm, NV

2019 Best In The Desert

Jan 11-12 Parker, AZ

Mar 7-10

Las Vegas, NV

April 5-7 Laughlin, NV

May 2-5 Alamo, NV

Aug 14-17 Vegas-to-Reno

2019 TRIALS INC.

WWW.TRIALSINC.ORG

April 13-14 Tippecanoe, Ohio

April 27-28 Garrettsville, OH

Mar 18-19

Little Hocking, OH

Jul 20-21 Toronto, OH

Aug 10-11 Sidell, IL

Aug 31-Sept 1 Newark, OH

Sept 14-15 Bloominton, IN

Sept 28-29

Nov 3

Bedford, KY

Pickerington, OH