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/1127887
VOLUME 56 ISSUE 23 JUNE 11, 2019 P37 "It's not every day you can win, so I'm very happy to make it hap- pen here," Gomez said. "I enjoy a lot to be in the States; I have good friends here, so it was a good opportunity to come over." SPRINT ENDURO Saturday featured round three of the AMA District 37 Sprint Enduro Series, and with the prospect of being filmed for MAV TV—among other factors—it drew an unexpectedly large number of riders. In fact, so many showed up that the race-day schedule had to be revised. The Prairie Dogs and additional clubs laid out and manned three special tests that the Experts and Pros tackled three times each. After those nine tests, a fourth test with elements of Sunday's LDS awaited them, to be ridden twice in succession. This comprised Last Dog 1 and served simply to set the starting order for Sunday's LD2. Though unsure of tackling that fourth test, Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda's Trevor Stewart ripped and won eight of the 11 tests, his GP background and CRF450RX suited well to the first nine. (Test two on the first lap was eventually thrown out due to a bottleneck created when one rider was injured in a difficult area to reach, making extraction a long process.) 3 Bros./STI Husqvar- na's Dalton Shirey stayed close all day but ended up 19 seconds be- hind for second. Haaker earned third for the day, 45 seconds behind Shirey, but he won test four both times around, hinting at the test's technical difficulty. Desert racers Kendall Norman and Jacob Argubright were fourth and fifth for the day. Riding one of the few 2020 Husqvarna TE 300i's in the country with his personalized WP suspension and extreme-enduro- spec Michelins, Gomez was con- tent to finish seventh—16 seconds behind sixth-place Hart—having approached it cautiously. "For me, it was hard and a bit dangerous also because I have my extreme [enduro] suspension and it's so soft, you get kicked off the bike very easy [in faster areas with big bumps]. Apart from that, it was good." LAST DOG STANDING While Saturday was warm, Sunday dawned with a warm breeze and promise of signifi- cantly higher temperatures and that would prove to be the biggest factor in LDS. In fact, it jumped more than 10 degrees, topping out at 104 with no breeze in the deep canyons often exposed to direct sunlight. Due to his per- formance in LD1, Haaker earned the first starting position for LD2. After Haaker, however, two riders would start every 30 seconds and make one lap of the approxi- mately eight-mile-long course. There was no catching Haaker and his FMF/Motorex/Fly Rac- ing TE 300i in LD2, though he, Gomez and Hart were sent back to ride sections they'd missed the first time around, reportedly due to missing track tape not blocking one trail. LD3 would, of course, be the decider and with temperatures con- tinuing to climb after the one o'clock start, two laps of a course that delet- ed some areas while adding others that were perhaps more difficult would be a stiff test, physically. Gomez took the lead from Haaker not long after the start and put it away early on his Canadian Trystan Hart posted a solid 3-2 performance for third overall.