"Brian is a lot more aggressive rna
when it com es to getting around the lap
pers ," Woodfo rd said. "I kind of had a hard
time getti ng by [the slower traffic), and
then I started making mistakes t rying to
keep up [to Garrahan) . I had a co uple of
close calls and decided to back off a little
bit. Sometimes you got to know when you
have to decide that second is good ."
"Yeah, I can be kind of an asshole when
it com es to t he lappe rs,' Garrahan jokingly said from the pod ium afterward. Later,
e
I t ern aijd tell ttief)1 a
ve lost my brakes on the downhills - tha
makes them move over all the time. I try to
thank them when they do [move over) :'
Once Brian started to take control of
the race , the KTM 4S0 SX pilot gradua lly
started pulling away, establishing himself
as the clear leade r. He wou ld ultimately
reel off six laps in two hou rs, S4 minutes
and 42 seconds. Woodford finished in
2:S6:3 I, followed Pat Garrahan in 3:00:46.
The next-closest rider was Green , finish-
ing over
eight minutes
behind Pat,
300ft.. rider
Zofchak was
two minutes
behind him.
Garrahan
quite happy to get his
fifth Hollister win and, in doing so,
stand up to the likes of Woodford .
"He's co nside re d to be t he
be st mu d ride r in America,"
Gar rah an said. "So tha t ma kes me
feel pretty goo d. I also feel as
tho ugh I'm in the best shape of my
life right now. My e nergy has
pea ked . I've got a trainer - Mark
Lucas - I've lost 20 po unds , bee n
going to the gym every day and
I've been eating good. My legs
cramped up a bit - the bike got heavy
[from the mud) and the ruts : '
After
many
attempts,
Woodford was happy to finally
make this year's Hollister podium .
"Y u know, I'm happy with seco
ond ," Woodford said. "I've never
been on the pod ium here, so it's a
good way to leave Ca lifornia." eN
www.cyclenews.com
CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 3, 2004
