Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1058408
"The Tecate Sprint Enduro had epic conditions and great racing!" Baker exclaimed. "I finished second overall. It was a great way to finish the 2018 race season and I was glad I could get on the podium for my last race with Team SRT. I really want to thank Craig Thompson and all of our sponsors over the last five years." Third-place finisher Ricky Dietrich had nothing but praise for the event, calling it "by far the funnest race I've done in years! [Tecate Enduro] is a bucket list race for anyone who calls themselves and enduro racer! Con- ditions were epic and I rode smart and smooth. Me and the bike seem to be friends again so we'll keep the good vibes flowing and see where it goes." While the pro riders might have found it "fun and flowy," the 95-mile course proved to be a torture test for the rest of the field. Survival was the key, as even Sutherlin admits. "Anybody that's ridden Tecate knows if you're not flowing, it's a miserable day. Once I got in my groove, it was one of those things where the less I tried to go fast and the more I just tried to ride a good trail pace, the better I rode. I was actually a lot smoother once I just calmed down and really focused on the trail." But the agony was not without its reward. The Los Ancianos M.C. was proud to offer a $4000 pro purse, thanking the "overwhelming gener- osity of its sponsors, Vey's Powers- ports/BikeBandit.com, DP Racing and Rene Cortez" for the bounty. For everyone else, the expanded fin- ish line fiesta was their reward. CN 1. Gary Sutherlin (KTM) 2. JT Baker (Hus) 3. Ricky Dietrich (Hon) IN THE WIND P34 JD BEACH JOINS MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKE FIELD J D Beach will perform double duties in 2019, after a partnership was an- nounced between Estenson Racing and the Attack Performance squad that will see the current MotoAmerica Supers- port Champion replacing the departing Josh Herrin in the Superbike class on the Attack Performance YZF-R1 and the American Flat Track Championship on the Estenson Racing MT-07. "I'm really looking forward to racing Superbike next year," Beach said. "I'm very grateful that RiCKdiculous Racing (with whom Beach was due to defend his Supers- port title) gave me their blessing to leave the team and basically told me I would be crazy to not go race Superbike." Attack Performance team owner Richie Stamboli is extremely excited to give Beach his Superbike launch, saying, "We're going to be on the second year of developing this motorcycle. The first year we spent basically learning the bike, learning the electronics and learning the racetracks and what the bike liked. So, I think it's super cool that you got a guy who just came off of a championship that is hungry and is fit and has a really good work ethic that's going to ride this motorcycle. We'll just go out and test as much as we can with JD, and get a lot of seat time with him. We'll take everything we learn from this year and make the bike that much better." CN