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/1542356
Mv Owru FLnce 3 David Pearson 5th Place KTM's David Pearson, who won the previous round in Utah, sprained his riSht ankle sev€rely while prac_ticing at home th€ week before and wasn't sure if he could ride until the day before the race. He also came down with the llu durinS the week and could barely speak. "l wasn t even planning on racint, really," Pearson said. "l ligured I'd come out here and tape it up and see how i! felt. so I did that yesterday and i( felt pretty decent. I fi8ured it'd be pretty good if I didn't have to dab. I lhink I was seventh on tho start and I caught my way up to fourth coming into the pits. Then I went out on the second loop, and it kind of got tight and technical with big, loose rocks and stufl and I had to dab a cou- ple times where I didn't really want to dab, but I had to, to save mFelf. I didn't even dab the last l2 miles of the race iust because I didn't want to hurt it any worse. I staned cruisinS. Brian Brown cautht me and passed me. I kind ofjust let him by. I didn't have any- thing for him: I didn't want to battle with him and get hurt worse. Russ and Destry were riding good today. I don't know iI I would've had anything for them the second loop; lhey were charging." 7 Quinn Cody 5th Place Honda rider Quinn Cody ended up sixth after gettint off to a confusint stan. "Right after the bomb, I was way left and I got kind of ofl trail and ended up way left, and I ended up following someone," Cody said. "l don't know who it was, but I w:s in their dust, and I realized there were no more 6 Matt Gosnell Despite havinS an elec- tric starter on his Michelin/FMF/Fly 525 XC, Red Bull KTM's Mau Gosnellgot a hor- rible 5tart. "lthink it was just me - a little bit of nerves, ' Gosnell said- "l just Bave it a little too much 8as off the start and it dkln't start. I usually do both - I kick it and use the electria start. lt wouldn't start. Forhlnately for me, i, it doesn't start I don't have to wear myself out kick- ing it, lt took a while for the electric start to 8et it koingl. I guess it'd be equivalent to about a l2- or I 3- kick start, so it wasnt good. So I got goint and ended up about 30th at the bomb, or 40th, and just started charyint, pickint nry way through everybody. I came into the pjts in l2th, went out [on th€ second loop] and just kind ol rode my race. I charged throuth the rocks and came in sevemh." Z I Kellon Walch 8th Place KTIY'! Kellon Walch ended up eiglth over.ll. "l got a good iump on the start," he said. 'l was going up the big old long rtart and, for some reason, my bike wouldn't pull top gear. I was like, '\ryhat?' becaure h usualty pulls me easy. So lwas lust pinninS it and pin- ning it. trying to shift up and [it bogged]. So, I was in fiIth and Briah Brown went by me, and we got to the titht stuff. Coming through at the end of that section, I got by a few guys - I think lwas se\renth or something. It was running really bad and I was like, 'Han, some- thing's not right.'Then I reached down and the choke Nrl9 Carl Maassberg l3th Place Race Tecty'So cJ fz4soF-mounted Carl Maarsbe8 got off to a tood start, reaching the bomb abolt sixth by his ertlmation. But his good fortune would not last, ':About halfiray through the loop I got a tront flat, and I iust couldn't ride very well Irom then on," Maassberg said. "l fell a couple times; a couple people got by me. Then in the pits, while we were chanSint it, a few more people got by me." 7th Place lcourse] markings. I was probabt a quarter-mile to the left, and I could see the leaders going through the pass out there. I cut back and had to bomb throu8h the rocks, over these big old boulders, and finally found a trail and got into the course." n tr'., The Mkings MC drew lots of praise lrom the front-runners for the course. Besides havinS pl€nty of virgin and technical terrain (no easy feat at Lucerne), the Virgin VoyaSe course also featured plen ty of course marking, Scott Myers got a great start on his Tem€cula MotorsportvPreci- sion Concepts/O'Neal CRF450X and hitthe trail after the bomb in foufth pla.e. Unfonunately for him, a rock reponedly put a hole in the cas€s, and he was forced to pull out oI the race. hadn't had enough time on the bike with my job and sturl l tried to to to utah for round fourl, but my \ran broke down. We got on the road 7:30 Thursday night, made ir two miles, and I guess it wa! the camshaft sensor that wE lt olt on it." As for this Virgin Voyage race, the Team Green rider said, "l think I passed Quinn Cody off the start somewhere. David [Pearson] passed me pret- ry quick, and when I passed him lnear the end] it was pretty qui.k. No .eal racing, just out there by mysell I could see the leaders on the first loop, but I just hung back and didn't push it." Honda's SteY€ Hengevcld was a no-show for the Virgin Vofage, despite lMng close by. The rea- sonl He'd .rashed while trail rid- int in Arizona the week before and suffered deep bruisinS to his riSht Ie8. He hoped to be ready to race the Terrible's Town 250 the week arter the National. Despite breakint his {oot while practicint at the WORCS race the week before, RPM RacinS,/Maxxis/Fly KTM 450 XC- mounted David Kanro suited up and finished I lth overall. I I I <\!*r This was former series champ Brian Brown's (above) first National Hare and Hound in over a /ear. 'l was toint to try to do the whole series, but before the flrst round, I crashed on Saturday and hurt my chest, so I didn't do that one," he said. "Red I'loun- tain, I didn't want ro do; I iust cYcLE NEWS . MAY r0, 2006 67 Despitr o rpruined onkle, Dovid Peorson, who woo the previous rcund in Utoh, finirhed third, I Amy Hastei said that she won Women's class on her fi D/ESFYMSR Y2250, wfi ich would keep her win streak alive and clinch the class chalnpi- onship, as she wordd then be able to use the tinal two rounds as her Zack t odson, the l25cc A-class points leader, DNFed when his bike broke. With a 2-l-l-l .ecord coming into tie Virgin Voyage race, how€ver, he wasn't too con- cerned, as he had more than tlvice as many points as his closest rival, Utah's Westlee Malloy. SpeakinS of St€Ye Hcngevcld, he's also looking forward to rac- ing in Alstralia's Finke desert race a week atter th€ Tecate SCORE B4a 500 on June 3. lt'll be "Henge'r" first race orrtside the United States and g4a. The Finke is a tlvo-day event in Australia's remot€ outback and includes all classes, iust like a Baia race. He'll borrow a Honda XR650R from local dealer Dese.t EdSe l''lotor- cycles and be accompanied by hi. father, Gary B4a pre-run partner Tim Gomez and fellow desert dweller lerry Bernardo, who helped facilitate the trip through .oinections at Red Bull. Hent€veld's latest sponsor. Honda's Kendall Norman tot to watch a great battle from his spot in third place (though he did have a few stints in second). "Those two rode an awesome race," he said. "l don't know what more I could've done; I was tr,,ing really hard out there. I wanted to win today, I really wanted to win. I gave it my best shot. I got a good start. I didn't make too many mistakes, didn't go down. My 450X ran 8reat. Some of those really fast ra.lleys, I .ould just see myself reeling them in. lt was amazing. lt's b€en a whil€ since I've been able to do that- But I think as each raae progresses, I'm getting a lit- tle better, learning a little more and our bikes are getting beter - it's only a matter of time. The next few rounds, l'm goinS to b€ there! They'd better be pre- pared to baftle." E 7*, a 3 _\ 7 g -:a 7- Briefly... f