Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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out from the hundreds of bikes attempting to make their way up canyons and through rocky washes. Casual banter around the post-race taco tables offered the general con - sensus that loop three was extremely gnarly, with the two most challenging sec - tions being what the Los Ancianos had named "Skid Plate" and "Stone Hedge." Senior-class racer Eric Schettler said, "Skid Plate was this huge canyon we went up that was basically a wash which had lots of vegetation and boulders. We traversed the creek a few times, running into these very rocky step-ups that had gotten dug out with huge holes from the bikes trying to get up them. But generally, the third loop had technical rock features, like giant slabs you'd ride across that had wet dirt drug across them, so the normally grippy granite was now very slick." "My favorite loop for sure was loop three," winner Gerston said. "It was gnarly, it was rocky, it was like an old-school enduro. There were big rocky canyons that we went up, and then it had some technical feature-based obstacles up through the rocky hills. It just kept you guessing and kept you learning and figur - ing it out the whole time. I was never just like, 'I'm riding and it's He narrowly claimed runner-up honors. "The Tecate Enduro is one of my favorite events, and it is always nice to end the year off down in Baja for some fun!" Campbell said. "The conditions were absolutely perfect, and the dirt was amazing, full traction. The race was long and techni- cal, so I planned accordingly. I tried to ride smooth and not make any mistakes. At the end of the day, I felt like I did that well. Test three, I struggled a little bit but was able to push to the end. I'm pumped on my second-place finish." On the flip side, any midpack racer offered a much different race report than the pros, as the soft dirt continued to get dug about this race is that because of the long tests, it is fatiguing on your body, but it is also men - tally fatiguing. So, being able to stay focused for long periods of time is valuable. I just rode my own race. It's easy to get wrapped up in your own head and think about all the good racers that are here. So instead, I just focused on the next turn, then the one after that, and kept that mentality going throughout the day." Only 35 seconds separated second-place finisher JCR Honda's Preston Campbell from Redondi in third-place aboard his factory GasGas. Preston is a familiar face at Tecate, as both he and his dad, Johnny, have raced Tecate in years past. DECEMBER 2, 2023 RANCHO SANTA VERONICA / TECATE, B.C., MEXICO OFF-ROAD I LOS ANCIANOS TECATE ENDURO P70 The Tecate Enduro left its mark on Super Senior racer Kelly Gelhaus.