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/128345
OFF-ROAD I Round 3 l~ HYR Endurance Se r ies • on515 one Dun 5 By JOHN BETHEA PHOTOS BY TONY LAMPING AND BETHEA Ty Davis' team wins again at Glen Helen 24 Hours The Montclair Yamaha team of Ty Davis (Pictured), Nathan Woods, Rya n Dudek and Terry Fow ler rode a sma rl and consist ent ra ce to come acros s th e finish line firs t w ith 79 la ps unde r its belt. ve r since the beginning of the annual Glen He len 24 Hours race, Ty Davis' s Mon t cla ir Yamaha team has bee n in co nten tio n for th e w in. And as anyo ne w ho has re ce ntly visited Gle n Hele n w ould know, the names o f him and his teammates adorn a memorial at the ce nter of t he track. Each ye ar, the winners of t he r a ce ge t the ir names placed o n th is huge trophy until the next year, when the race runs again. However, th is year there will be no need to change the names because Davis and his teammates - Nathan Woo ds, Ryan Dudek and Terry Fowler - did it again: They won the longest race at Gle n Helen, the grueling 24-hour en durance race . Like most race rs, Davis adm its that he spe nds an e norm ous amount of time pre paring for this race , since in the past he has lost it due to minor mechanical problems. "I spent at least three weeks getting E 50 the bike ready," Davis said. From the start of the race , Davis and his teammates knew that a cons istent pace would pay off in the end and also whe n they saw the Honda and KTM tea ms blast out to the fro nt. But Davis knew that their speed wou ldn't hold up. "That pace ain't going to last . We 're going to be mo re conservative. We 've done this several times, let them show off," Davis said. The event had a creative LeMans start where the compe titors ran to th eir bikes, started the m and took off. However, not too long after the start and less than half a lap in, the first con frontation too k place. It was be tw een Factory Honda team mem be r Mark Tilly and Team Pro Circu it's mot ocross star, Josh Grant . Last year, whe n night fell on the event, a massive bottleneck occurred on Glen Helen's Yamaha uphill. So, for this year, to try to avoid another problem, the course had an alternate way around the massiveuphill. Tilly oaOBER 13,2004 • CYCL E NEWS took this alternate while Grant decided to conquer the hill. When the two met back up on the main course they collided, sending Tilly cartwheeling to the ground. "I we nt over the bars when the fronte nd dropped off the edge and cartwheeled a few times," Tilly said. Luckily, he wasn't hurt and managed to continue on. Meanw hile, the KTM team of Kurt Caselli, Joey Lanza, Bryce O lsen and Nick Pearson were out front pulling away to a big lead before the first pit stop. O ve r the 40th Anniversary last few years, the KTM team has been unable to finish the race due to major mechanical pro blems. So, this year they decided to le ave the powerful 525th umpe r at home and op ted to ride a 200 5 KTM300 MXE two -stroke instead . "We had issues with the motor [of the 525]," Lanzasaid. "It was rea lgood not lugging the four-stro ke around for 24 hours." As it wo uld turn out, though, it would be the litt le things that would ruin the plans of victory for the KTM foursome. ,