Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Honda's Kendall Norman, on the Precision Concepts/Duniop/O'Neal-backed XR6S0R, finished a career-best second overall, while Matt Gosnell, on the Sportsman Cycle/Pro Circuit/Fly KTM 52S XC, also scored a career best with a thirdplace finish. Even though Peanion didn't get one of his better starts, thanks to a multiple-kick getaway, he still managed to swoop past Abbott's Acme Suspension/FMF{Thor KX500 at the end of the long bomb run and take control of the race. Abbott settled into second place, and the two riders rode one-two over the first 4O-mile loop. Peanion came in for gas with about a minute lead over Abbott. 'I\fter the first loop, I think I was a minute behind him or whatever," Abbott said. "I started loosening up, so I thought the second and third loops would be good for me, and I thought he might be taking it easy and not taking any chances. 50 I'm like, 'I might be able to get a win: but not even four or fIVe miles out [on the 2S-mile second loop], Igot a flat. That was a tough loop to have a flat on because it was off-camber, rocky, and I was just allover the place with the rear end. I just kind of said, 'You know what? It's not worth hurting myself more.''' Abbott backed it down to survival mode until he got back to the pits and had the rear wheel replaced. That, of course, allOWed a number of racers to get past him. Norman eventually took over second place after blowing the dead-engine start. But he chose a smooth line on the far left and found himself in decent shape. "I ended up at the bomb probably about 12th," Norman said. "From there on, I took my time. I knew it was going to be a lot longer than a usual desert race." Norman continued to pass people. "Once Igot out on the second loop, I got my second wind, and I was able to really charge," Norman said. "Quinn [Cody] put up a really good fight. He didn't want to give up his position. Once I got up into second, I just tried to close the gap as much as I could. Going out onto the [3S-mile] third loop, it got really technical and there was a lot of weight moving around with the 6S0, and I had to take it easy." Gosnell was another rider whose race got off to a seemingly doomed start when his new bike also didn't start right away. "I tried to have my brother push-start "I didn't feel like I had any pressure on me, because I knew there was going to be a slim chance that Pearson would ONF," Destry Abbott said. "I still wanted to come out here and try to win. It just hasn't been a good year for me. But I'm really looking forward to the KX4S0F. It's a great bike." For Kendall Nonnan, his runner-up finish was not only a career-best, but it was also one of Honda's best finishes in an AMA National Hare & Hound in recent memory. When asked about it, Norman replied, "I think Bruce [Ogilvie, Honda's Off-Road Coordinator] won back in the old days." Honda News: Quinn Cody's bike was the same one that Robby Bell and Kendall Norman rode to a second-place finish at the Vegas-to-Reno race two weeks ago. Cody and Norman had plans to head down to Baja right after the National to start pre-running for next month's Baja 1000. Honda's two factory teams at Baja will be made up of Johnny Campbell, Mike Childress and Steve Hengeveld on the "PC team, and Bell, Cody and Norman on the "B" team. For the final race, Russell Pearson ran an engine that Ty Davis had specially built with durability in mind. "He's so good with the motors," Pearson said after the race. "I just went, 'Hey, make this thing so it'll last'," Pearson said. "The thing ran really good. It still purrs like a kitten now." me, and that didn't work, so I kept kicking and finally it fired up:' he said. "Someone said I was in the early 305 when I got to the bomb. I just started picking through people, riding smart. I mean, you're in the dust, you're hauling, you're already worked up because your bike didn't start, so I just tried to play it smooth. I came into the pits in ninth, and then after the second loop, I came into the pits in fifth, then finished in third. I didn't have any problems [after the start]." After dicing with Norman, Quinn had third for a while, but he couldn't hold off Gosnell. "We had a good little battle; we went back and forth two or three times," Cody said of his skirmish with Gosnell. "I tried chasing him in across the last big valley, but I don't know, either my header pipe or my cam bearing went out, one or the other, I0 miles into the race. It didn't seem like it was quite as fast as it should've been on the big valley. Definitely, it was a tough third loop with those rocks!" The battle for top 2SOcc honors and fifth overall went down to the finish between District 37's Luke Dodson and Idaho's David Kamo. Both fell on the final loop, with Dodson going down within sight of the finish, but he managed to pick his Barstow Motorcycle Center/FMFfToo Trick R&Dbacked RM2S0 just in time to hold off Kamo's FMF/DunloplFIy Racing KX2S0. CN JOHNSON VAWY OHV ARIA lucERNE VAWY, CAuFORNIA REsuLTS: OcToBER 23, 2005 (ROUND 6 OF 6) OVERAlli I. R=ell """""" (Yam): 2. KendoJI Nonmn (Hoo): 3. Man Go

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