Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Glcn Helcn Ro.ewEry Son Bernordino, CA HYR Endunan(€ s€Pi€s A record number of teoms did botde ot this yeor'i 6 Hours of Glen Helen. YWLD l I E - m I ffi I I I J A[nxff:'ffi showed up Sunday for the Glen Helen 5- Hout the opening round ol the HYR (Honda, Yamaha of Redlands) Endurance Series. And when the six hours of fun were over, !t was the two-man KTM team of David Pearson and Matt Gosnell that had the most fun. Riding a KTM 450 thumper, the Pearson-Gosnell dt:o was one of five teams that managed to squeeze out 15 laps around the l0-mile course, but. of those five teams, Pearson and Gosnell managed to do it the quick- est to take the 251-Open Expert-class win over fellow KTM team riders Matt Eddy and Ross Garcia. The only other team not in the big- bore Expert class that managed to ptrt up l6 laps was the Honda-mounted Jeff Maginn, Chris Dvoracek and Paul Barnes trio that won the 125-250 Expert class with three laps to spare. One of the biggest stories of the day wasn't so much the muddy conditions, or the track's ultrafun and lengthy single- track trail section, but was the onslaught one individual did against the multirider squads. Bruce Marada, a local l8-year- old, had originally signed up as one of the record-number 30 riders in the lronman class, but he made a switch to 251-Open Expert division iust minutes before the start of the race. "l iust wanted to prove to everyone I could do good wth iust me riding aginsr the teams,'' he said after the endeavor while collapsed in a sofa in the Kad Krumme pis. 'Just wanted to prove a point.'' And that he did! I'larada racked up iust as many laps as did the winning team of Pearson and 44 APRrr 19, 2006 CYCLE NE Gosnell and pulled offa fourth-place finish in class and overall. lt was a remarkable performance by the Suzuki Rl'1-2450- mounted rider. When che first wave left the srart line after a half-hour delay that was needed to repair the rain-saturated track, mainly to Glen Helen's Nvo motocross tiacks that were incorporated into the lo-mile cir- cuit, l4arada quickly iumped into third place and was still there following the first lap, which featured a little bit of every- thing, from soupy mud, to fresh single- track, to greasy pavement, to a tricky log section that had many riders thinking about signing up for the next EnduroCross. One thing, however, that this course didn't have was dust, which was not missd one bit by any of the Endurance Series regulars. 'Anytime I thought about bitching about the mud, I iust thought about the lack of dust and shut my mor-tth, smiled and kept paddling," said one contestant. Marada, who was riding with a three- , II -aj?' "3- - I - rl digit numEer among the two-digit Expert- class riders, created some confusion for spectators and racers alike. Who was this guy? Did he cut the course? Start on the wrong row? When he took over the lead more than two hours intg the race, even the lap checkers didn't think much of it, figuring he was a lap down. But he wasn't. Before gefting passed by Marada, Max Eddy and Ross Garcia, aboard a 450 KTM, and the Pearson and Gosnell team weTe battling back and forth. Both of the KTM teams. howeverl were perrectly aware of rhe fast three-digit rider that was closrnS in. "He flYarada] de{initely knows how to handle the track," Gosnell said. An hour or so into the race. Pearson moved back into the lead. ''We took the lead after three laPs when they [Eddy and Garcia] came in and pitted with sgme bike issues," Gosnell said. "Then we really stretched it out when their rider fell in the back." That rider was Eddy, who "whacked myself pretty good," and he turned the machine back over to Garcia after having put in iust one lap after takinS over for his starting teammate. Garcia managed to keep his team in second, while Marada settled into third. At the four-hour mark, Marada was still looking strong. ''He's got that youth over the lield right now," said Krumme, Marada's spon- sor "He's got it dialed." Toward the end of the race, however, even the yotth advantage was giving way to nearly six hours of racing- He got the bad news on the last lap that he had arrived at the finish line l5 seconds shy of I I I - OFF-ROAD Round I Morch 16. 2(,06 I I t\ -il I s I _l iF endure six hours of mud ond fun dt the Glen Helen Endurance Series opener Sronv lt'to PHoros BY JoHN BETHEA lt _/ -'l F Bob Robertr won the lronmon clor! ofler Gompleting l5 lops orognd the lO-mile rocecourue. a \ ft ,{ 1 .v ! I Bruce l$orodo rode solo ogoinst re leqmr cnd finirhcd on the soma lop or lhe winners. 5 I I

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