Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(RIght) JarTett gave Woodfon:! something to think about for a while. JarTett ended up finishing second. (Below left) Brian Garrahan slipped into thin:! place in the late stages of the race. (Below right) Matt Stavish was looking podium-bound until encountering barbed wire. my Own Race Ty Davis 7th "I was running really well at the beginning," Davis said of his race. "Chuckie [Woodford] was flooring it. He's really good at these mud races, especially here. I'm not really comfortable flooring it through the ruts and trees. Scott Summers and I were going back and forth for a while, and I thought if I stayed with him, we would move up to Chuckie. Unfortunately, Summers disappeared. I don't know what happened to him. This was definitely a tough race. Once it started to rain, it got really slick. I fell a bunch of times, and it just wore me out. I'm one of the only guys from California out here, and now I know why - this race is brutal. My goal at the beginning of the race was to hang with the leaders and give it all I had left at the end, but once it started raining and it got so slick, I just couldn't hang. I was like a wet noodle out there." Josh Weisenfels 8th "My race went pretty good," Weisenfels said. "I was running fourth for a while. I just kept crashing and stuff. J tried to ride with Brian [Garrahan) and Tim [Taber) and was basically just riding over my head and crashing. which made me tired. I'll do better next year_ I really didn't know what to expect, so I would take off so hard. I didn't know there were going to be a hundred logs and deep ruts everywhere on the course. I like running with these guys up front_ It's just making me faster; that's why I'm doing it_" Tim Taber 4th "This race was fun," Taber said of his race, "I had a good time.. Brian Garrahan and I rode together for most of the race. The last three or four races, he hasn't been able to beat me: He finally pulled it off. We hung back at the start maybe a little too much; I had a lot of energy left over at the end of the race. I'm usually more wom out after one of these things. We probably should have tried and stayed with the. lead pack. I don't know. I had a good time. It ended up being a lot better than. I thought it would be. My game plan was to ride a good pace. It was good to ride with Garrahan. It keeps you focused. In a long race like this you don't want to let your mind wander, so riding with someone keeps you motivated." Cole Calkins DNF "Thing where going good the first couple of laps," Calkins said. "I ended up going over a tree next to a barbed-wire fence. My back wheel got caught in the fence and tore it down, which also ripped off my back brake line, which pretty much ended my day. I've been having the worst luck. I'm pretty bummed. The course was fun. I was having a good time_ I wish I could have kept riding. Jeff Fredette 15th "I just went out there and rode around; that's basically all you can do especially when it -started raining," the off-road vet said. "It's so slippery out there you can hardly go straight. Then Chuckie goes by like it's not even raining out. That kid was on rails today. He did real well. The course was good at first. It actually started to tack up at the end of the first lap and was looking to b.e good; then it started to rain again, and it got ugly. Basically a good game plan for the Moose run is to follow the first lap, and then the race starts after that; however, Chuckie blew .that all away. He was going for it from the get-go." Matt Stavish 5th "My race went all right; I had fun," Stavish said. "I was doing well until the last lap went I tore my front brake caliper off. Garrahan and Taber got by me. Finishing on the podium would have been nice, especially here, but I'm happy with a top-five finish. The course was good; it was real technical and definitely the toughest race I've been in all year." Jarrett grabbed the holeshot on his Funmart Cycle-backed YZ250 ahead of Calkins and Davis, with Summers right behind them. Woodford got a good jump; however, he went down in the first turn and was going to have to play catch up. Garrahan's plan, meanwhile, was working perfectly, as he was dead last going into the woods off the start. The course was virgin on the first lap, which created bottlenecks throughout the circuit, and nobody really wanted to lead. That left the door open for Woodford, who was willing to let it hang out, and by the end of the first lap, he had taken the lead with Jar· rett and Calkins freight-training right behind him. Behind the lead trio were Summers and Davis, who rode together for the first couple of laps. Summers, however, would be the first of the front run- was halted by a broken water-pump, leaving Davis to fend for himself. Matt Stavish and KTM's Josh Weisenfels were battling with another KTM racer, Kyle Nelson. Garrahan hooked up with Funmart Cycles' Tim Taber, and the two KTM-mounted riders were moving up through the pack, picking off the less fortunate racers who were beginning to succumb to the harsh conditions of the Moose Run. On lap three, rain began to pour, and the second of the top runners to be swallowed by the many obstacles on the track was Calkins. He was run· ning third, close to Jarrett, when a barbed-wire fence got caught in his rear wheel and tore off his rear brake line, ending his day. Davis inher, ited third and was trying to ~ keep up with Jarrett and Woodford, and Stavish was charging behind him. On the fourth lap, Jarrett began to ners to drop out. He cue' e n e _ so • JUNE 18. 2003 37

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