Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I November 2 7 , 20 0 5 OFF-ROAD I~ Maxxis EnduroCross My OWN RACE 57 Nathan Woods DNQ New WORCS Champion Nathan Woods came within a whisker of qualifying for the main event, but a crash while leading on the last lap of his of his semi ultimately cost him a chance of making the main. Nonetheless, Woods said he had a good time. "It was very intense; it had the Supercross-style intensity, but I had a lot of fun," Woods said. "I had plenty of chances to make it, but it was so intense you needed to take a m inute to relax and just ride and get through the sections and not try to bonsai it. All in all, I thought it was a great event ; I'd love to come back. The off-road community needs these , it's a great opportunity for the public to see what we do ." 29 Paul Edmondson 7th England's Paul Edmondson was one of the favorites coming into the race, but finishing seventh didn't seem to disappoint the Honda CR250 rider. "I really enjoyed it - good , good fun," Edmondson said. "The main wasn't too bad, but my throttle grip came loose, so it was really weird when you tried to jump over stuff and the thing would twist." left the door open and I closed it on him." The LCQ alone as the featured event would've made any off-road race promote r happy to have , with guys like Smail, Russ Pearson, Pat Garrahan, Steve Hatch , Aaron, Paul Krause and Kellon Walch , among others, on the line. But it was Nathan Kanney who came away with the win and sent the rest packing . After the seven thrilling heat races, the IO-rider final was set, w ith five Americans going up against five riders from abroad . Hughes, on his ECC/FMF/Moose Racing-backed Honda CR250R, put his Supercross experience to good use in the e ight-lap main event, getting a wheel on the pack off the gate, then swerving over on them to lay claim to the early lead , ahead of Knight, Eriksson , David Pearson, Davis, Diaz and Ahola. With clear sailing ahead of him, Hughes made it his priority to get over the obstacles safely, even though Knight kept him honest. Hughes appeared to settle into a comfortable groove but couldn't really shake Knight . Suddenly, just past the halfway po int, Hughes bobbled on a log and Knight was there to pounce. The Brit put his KTM into the lead, but it was only for a brief moment. In the ne xt turn, Hughes got Knight back and returned to the smooth, fast pace he had earlier. " I got hung up on a log, and he got through there good," Hughes said. ''Then we went through the rocks and into the corner. He was in front of me and I kind of had to ram him to get by." "I thought when I passed him, I could've kept in fro nt of him to the end," Knight said . " But I made a bit of a mess of that turn. I got a lot of mud on the handlebars, and the grip started slipping off a little bit. I also had a lot of arm pump, so I had a good lead over third and decided to back it off and ride smooth a nd hope he'd make a mistake." 40 Nathan Kanney 8th After riding all of the qualifiers and squeaking into the main event with a victory in the LCQ, Nathan Kanney was pleased to finish eighth. "I have a new respect for the Supercross guys that have to go through all of the qualifiers," Kanneysaid. "Youdon't really know what kind of a toll it takes on you until you do it. In the main event, I was talking with Edmondson, and we said we'd just let everyone go and watch 'em drop like flies. And sure enough, I think I got as high as fifth and then got stuck on the rocks twice . It was good, it was killer; I'm totally stoked how I did and can't wait until next year." 27 Ty Davis 6th After winning his heat race, Ty Davis struggled a bit with the boulders in the main but still pulled off a sixth place. "It was good, great racing, a lot of fun, total adrenaline rush, worn out - eight minutes just kicked my butt ," Davis said. "But it was so much fun. Unfortunately I made a lot of mistakes , but those rocks got me. Ifit wasn't for those damn rocks, I would've done great . I was reeling them in slowly, I felt great, had some great lines, then I stalled it. Anything can happen . A guy fell over on me and I was stuc k. It was tough. I dreaded that parade lap - I mean , when you dread doing a parade lap?! Those rocks." 37 Steve Hatch DNQ Steve Hatch, on the Throttlehead.com Kawasaki, was fast all night long but kept getting into trouble, thus failing to make the main. "I thought it was a lot of fun and was just stoked to be invited," Hatch said. "It was just one of those days; I was running up front a lot, but the rock pile really made ya' or broke ya'. Igot stuck on there a couple of times." 28 Homero Diaz 10th Homero Diaz might have finished last in the main, but at least he could say that he made the main, unlike about 20 other riders . Diaz showed moments of brilliance over the course of the night. "Oh, I was doing pretty good the first two or three laps of the main, then I was getting very tired ," Diaz said. "I think those first two laps were too stressful for me , so then it was just sur- vival. But I made it to the main event; that was my main goal. And I want to thank Kurt and Rich [father] Caselli for lending me their bike." 20 GeoffAaron Ryan Hughes had a bobble in his heat race but managed to get going again and remain in second - just enough to transfer direct ly to the main. 14 DECEMBER 8 , 2004 • CYCLE NEWS DNQ The multi-time National Trials Champion came about as close as you could get without making the main event . Aaron , riding a 2S0cc two-stroke Gas Gas, finished one spot out of a qualifying position in all three heat races . Aaron was obviously using his trials skills to get over all of the obstacles , all the while keeping up a good pace, but it just wasn't quite enough to get into the main. "But I had a lot of fun," he said. "I really enjoyed myself, but came up just a little short." 40th Anniversary

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