SUTHERLIN RULES TECATE ENDURO
A
sizeable purse and perfect con-
ditions lured hundreds of riders
and more than 20 pros down to Ran-
cho Santa Veronica for the infamous
Los Ancianos Tecate Enduro. The
2018 running of the event saw nearly
100 miles of wet single-track trail,
thanks to rains in the days leading
up to the race. For Gary Sutherlin,
it was the perfect recipe for victory
aboard his all-new ride, a Hatch
Racing KTM. In box-stock condition,
Sutherlin rode his 2019 450 XC-F at
a patient pace through three loops
and 95 miles of winding rocky trails
to claim the overall win. JT Baker
and Ricky Dietrich rounded out the
overall podium.
"With that prize money and that
dirt, couldn't pass that up," said
Sutherlin with a laugh. "There were
a lot of good guys there; it was pretty
good. They had some really nice
tough sections and it went into some
flowy stuff and then got on some
roads for a little bit and it was like,
'bam,' right back into gnarly stuff."
Sutherlin was looking forward to
challenging defending champion
Noah Kepple for the overall win, but
shortly into the second loop, Kepple
ran into problems.
"Unfortunately Noah had a chain
break on test two," said Sutherlin.
"He's super fast in those conditions
so to see him have an issue was
kind of a bummer. His dad actually
loaned me Noah's number plate gas
tank, because I thought I was going
to run out of gas in the last test.
I didn't know the mileage I could
get on the XC-F and after the test
there was like barely anything in. So
Noah's dad was nice enough to let
me borrow the tank that Noah didn't
need to use. That was pretty cool
sportsmanship of them."
While it was Sutherlin's first win
of a new season, for second-place
finisher JT Baker, it marked his last
race of the season. Baker was fresh
off an incredible finish at the ISDE in
Chile as a member of the Team SRT
club team, where he finished first
overall in the C3 division. Unfortu-
nately Team SRT will not be continu-
ing its expansive off-road racing pro-
gram next year, making the Tecate
Enduro Baker's final race aboard the
Team SRT Husqvarna.
IN
THE
WIND
P32
(L-R) Los Ancianos
M.C.'s Tommy Thrailkill
presents Gary
Sutherlin with a $2500
check for winning the
Tecate Enduro. JT
Baker (right) and Ricky
Dietrich (left) finished
2-3, respectively.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
SEAN
FINLEY
