O normal people would
st
chose not to enter a race
dubbed by many as
'J\merica's Toughest Offroad Race ." but Chuck
Woodford is no normal person. With lap
times hover ing around the half-hour
mark - for the pros! - this unique race is
not for the feeble , and Woodford is certa inly not one of these, as he has now
won this event three times in a row. The
Bill Gusse-produced race, round three of
the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycles and ATV National Series , always
M
challenges even the best riders as they
are forced to ride through anything from
mud bogs to swamps. And each year only
the toughest racers survive to t he finish.
It too k Woodford over four hours to
complete t he race, while Fun Mart
Yamaha/Moose-sponsored Jimmy Jarrett
finished in second place a little over four
minutes back. Kawasaki's Cole Calkins
finished third, KTM's Shane Watts fourth,
and Y
amaha rider Nathan Kanney rounded out the top five.
Early in the race Woodford and Jarrett
swapped the lead position a few times;
46 JUNE 23, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
however, unlike most normal races they
didn't do it by simply passingeach other the two of them kept crashing.
"For the first four or five laps Jarrett
and I took turns leading," Woodford said.
"First I'd lead and crash; then he'd take
over. The n he'd slide out , and I'd lead.
Then I'd endo , and he'd lead. Some of the
crashes were pretty gnarly."
In years past Woodford has been able
to break away from the pack, but this
year was a little different. It took a little
longer for Woodford and Jarrett to break
away and start a battle of their own .
40th Anniversary
"I'm not sure what was going on,
Woodford said. "Usually here [the Moose
Run] two riders can break away and make
good time. It doesn't do any good to ride
in large groups because you risk gett ing
hung while the lead group gets away. By
the third lap, I figured that was enough.
With me leading [and crashing], all I was
doing was wearing myself out . So I just
relaxed and let Jimmy set the pace.
Hopefully he'd wear down enough that I
could make a charge."
Even though Woodford let Jarrett lead,
Jarrett had a feeling that it was not the last
