Surratt, Thompson Sail To Victory At 10-Hour
B
y the time Blayne Thompson
clicked the Chaparral Motors-
ports/Precision Concepts Kawa-
saki into fifth gear, he found himself
alone at the front of the pack. For
the next 10 hours, he and team-
mate Ryan Surratt stretched that
lead as they dominated the 3 Bros.
10-hour Endurance Race, round
two of the three-race 3 Bros. En-
durance Race Series at Glen Helen
Raceway Park, June 16.
After a scare at the 3 Bros.
6-hour a few months ago when
their well-worn primary bike quit
with a crank failure, forcing them
to go to their backup bike to win,
they took no chances at the 10-
hour and showed up with a fresh,
well-prepped Pro Circuit/Maxxis/
Fasthouse-sponsored KX450.
No one matched their pace,
the pair clicking off laps of the
nearly eight-mile-long course in
the 15-minute range with a few
dipping into the 14s. The eventual
winners completed a total of 39
laps or just over 300 miles.
With no one really able to chal-
lenge them, Surratt and Thomp-
son essentially treated the day
as an extended practice and test
session. Surratt said, "For me,
as much practice as I can get,
the better, because of me switch-
ing to off-road [from professional
motocross] just recently, the more
track time I can get, the better I
can get on the bike and be more
comfortable doing off-road stuff.
"[I rode] probably 80 to 90 per-
cent. In a 10-hour race, a lot can
happen so you don't want to push
that edge too much to where you
can make a big, costly mistake
and ruin it for the both of us so we
both have to tone it down just a
little bit."
The 3 Bros. KTM trio of Nic
Garvin, Evan Kelly and Nick
Stover claimed second overall
and the 250cc Expert/Intermedi-
ate win despite losing time when
their primary bike died during one
IN
THE
WIND
P28
Blayne Thompson
(shown) and Ryan
Surratt dominated this
year's Glen Helen 10-
Hour. PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
