VOL. 48 ISSUE 23 JULY 19, 2011
P55
BY KIT PALMER
PHOTOS BY SHAN MOORE
I
WE RIDE THE NEW
WOODS RACERS
FROM KTM.
R
54-63 KTM XCW.indd 55
The 2012 KTM 250 XC-W was
the author's weapon of choice
at the Inyan Kara AMA National
Enduro in Wyoming.
thought I'd try something different this time. Often times
when KTM introduces its new
line of off-road motorcycles to
the media, they do it at a race,
giving us the opportunity to try
out their machines in real-world
situations, like at a WORCS race,
or a GNCC, or in this case at a
National Enduro, in Wyoming,
with its new line of 2012 XC-W
models. Usually, we're given the
chance to sample each model
the day before the race, and then
we choose which one we want to
ride the next day. It's pretty much
a dream weekend, but I always
seem to find myself on the same
bike-KTM's venerable 300 twostroke. I just can't help it. After all,
when it comes to off-road racing,
when in many cases just getting
to the finish line is a win in itself,
I always choose what I think will
give me the best chance of getting me to the end. And when the
pickings are all Orange, that bike
for me is the 300.
Yes, I always pick old faithful,
even if the 300 isn't the latest,
trickest or coolest model at the
time. In this case, those accolades go to the new fuel-injected
450 and 500 four-strokes, or the
new 350 and 250 XCFs, now
available in "W" trim. But fuelinjection or not, I can't ignore the
300 when comes to racing and
when there are 100 miles of tight
trails mixed in with mud holes,
trees and who knows whatever
else is lurking out there. How7/15/11 12:48 PM
