Cycle News

ROUND 3/OCTOBER 19-20, 2013 GLEN HELEN RACEWAY/SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA OFF ROAD P90 JBC GLEN HELEN ENDURANCE SERIES The Precision Kawasaki Team held the point for most of the race but ended up finishing about a minute behind the Honda team after 24 hours of racing. "On Wednesday, I was riding my mountain bike and the front tire popped off the rim. I slid about 30 feet on the asphalt, hit my elbow, my hip and my leg," he reported. "I was dreading starting this race like that, but it wasn't bad. It actually didn't bother me while I was riding." As it turned out, the Zip-Ty team had much more serious problems to worry about. "Bobby was leading on the bike and started having problems with a clogged injector," said Brown. "We pulled into the pits several times to work on it. We replaced the injector, but lost a couple of laps. Other than that we rode well and I think we would have had a shot at it. I'd definitely like to try again next year." They were able to catch up to fourth overall, right behind the first-place Open-Expert team of Purvines Beta. This was another talent-laden squad, with Justin Morrow, Ryan Abbatoye, Nick Burson, Tallon Taylor, Max Gerston and Jason Parsons, but they opted not to ride in the Pro class for strategic reasons. Going into the race, the Purvines team was in a close battle for the newly created series championship, which would be named this year, courtesy of Rockwell Time. The points are awarded according to overall placing regardless of class, and by racing expert rather than pro, a team is allowed six riders instead of four, plus they get a spare bike. The Beta riders had to start on the second row and were not eligible for the $5000 purse, but in the end, they still clawed their way to third overall, winning the championship. "We rode a 300 two-stroke for this race and it worked out perfectly," said Justin Morrow. "It was so light you could just hold it wide open. Those other guys on the 450s were struggling through the tight canyons. It was the prefect bike." The Purvines team had a nearly trouble-free ride, other than running out of gas once. They had set up one bike for the night and another for the day, but ended up riding just one bike most of the way. Second place in the expert class went to Mark Tilley and Team Dirt Bike Magazine, which was in contention with the Purvines team for the series. Tilley had won the six-hour, Morrow had won the 10-hour, and this race would pay double points. But Tilley's plans fell apart on the first lap when he fell, bending the bike and bruising some ribs. They finished that first lap in nearly last place. Eventually they came through the pack with some good times from Benny Breck, Max Eddy, Mark Samuels and Ricky Brebec. Not everyone could fall back on their teammates. This year there were seven riders who elected to ride solo in the Ironman

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