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/128368
Hatch Wins Arizona National T rottlehead.com/Kawasaki Team Green's Steve Hatch won the Desert Mountain National Enduro, round two of Raga Rocking in World Indoor Trials Adam Raga is killing the World Trials Indoor Championship, having clinched seven wins the AMA FMF National Enduro Series, in Arizona on February 27. Hatch dropped 20 points on the day, two points better than both Matt Stavish and Mike Lafferty, who finished second and third, respectively. The Honda-mounted Stavish edged KTM's Lafferty on the out of seven rounds as of round seven at Milan, Italy, on February 19. But there, in front of more than 6000 people, the Gas Gas rider did find a couple of indomitable countrymates to be hard nuts to crack. First, Beta's young pilot Toni Bou dominated the qualification lap, but he broke his bike during the warmup, before the final lap, tiebreakers to get the runner-up honors. Hatch, who now lives in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, said, "The conditions today were just perfect. With all the rain we've had recently, you couldn't ask for and thus he was forced to use the spare bike better riding conditions. Bou and left Sherco's Albert Cabestany and Raga to fight for the overall win. The two were tied at the end of the final lap, and it in the crucial moment. The switch derailed "I had a couple of problems with coming in on a couple of early checks," Hatch added, "but I made up for it by staying out of trouble the rest of the day. I just missed took two tiebreaker sections more to determine the winner. By virtue of finishing a few by a couple of seconds, but everybody else seemed to have the checks four and six seconds quicker than Cabestany (the two both zeroed the second tiebreaker section), same problem." Raga improved his record of wins. Having another good round of the National Enduro Series was Stavish, who The night went poorly for the Honda finished runner-up for the second week in a row. Stavish, from Scandia. Minnesota, said: team, which was stuck on inferior two-stroke equipment after testing of the team's new four-strokes has apparently lagged. Only "I just had another good week. Usually, I struggle a little bit during the early rounds, but this year I seem to have everything Doug Lampkin seemed to have a chance to gain the access to the final, but two big mistakes in the final two sections left him behind the leaders. Lampkin wound up third overall. Mario Candel/one worked cuL It's hard coming out here from Minnesota and being able to pick it up when there's still snow on the ground back home." Rounding out the top-five overall were previous-round winner Billy Russell and defending race champion David Lykke, both riding KTMs. Russell dropped 23 points and Lykke's 24. Steve Berkner Steve Hatch wan round twa af the AMA FMF National Enduro Series in Arizona. Alessi Fourth in Euro Debut KTM's Mike Alessi finished easily won the last moto and the overall. Twice second fourth in his European motocross debut, the young- (behind Pichon in the first race and behind Coppins in the second), Smets ended up getting ster posting a 5-3-S moto taily at the International MX No Fear event in Pernes les Fontaines, France, on tired in the last race but still managed to finish fourth for second overall. February 27. "Last weekend I had a terrible headache and couldn't race Valence, but today I felt much better," Smets said. "I really like this kind of track, and it's The overall win went to New Zealander Joshua Coppins, the Honda rider winning two motos and finish- ing third in the other. ''As always for the first race of the season, rience will help me in the future. I like racing in France. The fans are nice and the people are very enthusiastic." Alessi is scheduled to test this week in Holland before racing again at Hawkstone Park in England. bike, but we already tested some new parts and I'm confident for the season." less and less on the calendar. Today we the KTM 4S0 SXS. "It was a really good experience, and I wiil keep a good memory of the weekend," Alessi said. "The GP riders are really fast, and I learned a lot today. For sure this expe- a big event. We are always using the 2004 Coppins said from the podium. '" like this kind of surface, and I'd like to race more GPs on really hard soil, but unfortunately there's es and his third-place finish in race one on nice to see a new promoter organizing such I got pumped arms in the opening race," Alessi, meanwhile, just missed out on a podium finish with his two fifth-place finish- the Swiss rider consistent over the threerace format. "I'm now based in Lommel and practice proved that both me and my bike seem ready for the GPs, but we have some more testing and other races before the opening GP in Zolder." Fighting with Joel Smets, Yves Demaria and Alessi in the second heat, and later with Smets and Julian Bill in the final race, Coppins 6 Third overall went to KTM's Julien Bill, mainly on sandy tracks, so I need to get used to hard tracks," Bill said. "I'm happy with my results. Iconfirmed the results of the other preseason races, and I feel really confident before the opening round of the MX3 in France." MARCH 9, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Josh Coppins won the International MX No Fear event in France. Adom Raga has yet to be defeated in World Indoor Trials Chompionship competition this season.