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/634995
OFF ROAD 5TH ANNUAL KLIM KING OF THE MOTOS JANUARY 31, 2016 JOHNSON VALLEY OHV AREA /LANDERS, CALIFORNIA P62 My Own Race: 33 TAYLOR ROBERT 2ND Despite choosing completely different sides going up the start hill, Taylor Robert and teammate Cody Webb collided at the top when their lines ended up coming together. "We were walking our lines at the same time [before the start] and since I had first pick, Cody was like, 'Well, I don't want to follow you up this thing so I'll pick a different line.' So he made this other line and I was like, 'Yeah, I think it'll be pretty close.' We literally came to the top [at the start] and I saw him and I'm like, 'Nope, I'm not letting off!' and I just hit his front wheel and I yelled, 'Woo hoo!' It was all good fun." After having to deal with lappers for the first few laps until they were eliminated, Dunlop/ Acerbis/Sidi 300 XC-mounted Robert continued, "All in all, it was pretty good and I was happy with it. The trail got so broken in because we did six laps on it. Actually, the last lap, it was fairly easy; there was no really hard parts." 1 COLTON HAAKER 3RD "It was a pretty competitive day," Colton Haaker said. "I felt like no one really had a clear-cut advantage. I thought I was pretty aggressive on most everything in between, like I was jumping stuff and just on the gas, just taking a little more risk at anything that had an option for open room once I knew where I was going. It paid off for me in the beginning until I hit a rock that I didn't see. That one knocked me back; I got pasted, just ate it real bad and hit a big rock with my back. I sat there for a little while but was still in the lead. I picked myself up probably a minute later. I couldn't believe it; I knew I had a good gap but still. I picked it up still in the lead and I was just struggling. My goggles blew off—that's how bad my crash was—my goggles blew off; they were just gone! So that was unnec- essary! Cody got by me [later] and as soon as he got by me I regained my composure. I got goggles that next lap and I could see again, then I started to reel him in. I got around him and it was going good. We actually went back and forth a couple times. I got to one section that had a bunch of lappers and I took the wrong line and I got really hung up, like upside-down hung up, and he went by and cleaned that section no problem and I was there for, like, five minutes trying to get my stuff together." 118 CORY GRAFFUNDER 4TH "I actually led off the start, which I didn't think would happen because I picked a pretty conservative line up the hill, thinking, 'I don't really need to go for it; just make sure I get up the hill in the top 10—that's perfect. With the navigating [you have to do on the first lap], I can make my way to the front after that.' But I came over the top and I was leading! I was like, 'Oh, this is cool!' I went like a minute or not even and turned on an old trail that went down a bank, just like a bike-length, and then realized, 'Nope! Don't go there! We continue on down the ridge line.' Kyle [Redmond] and Colton and Cody and Taylor all passed me right there. So I was in fifth and I stayed there the whole first lap. I had no desire to move up at all. I was like, 'I can sit back in fifth and chill.' I was stopping to clean my goggles [and even go to the bathroom along the trail] because they're all navigating; they're all going the wrong way [and missing turns on that first lap] so they're all losing time. So I was just sitting back and watching, taking notes on where the actual track is so that after we finish the first lap, then it's game on." 7 KYLE REDMOND 5TH American Beta's Kyle Redmond was part of the lead freight train, eventually finishing fifth aboard his Motul/ Kenda/Moose-backed 300 RR after losing his goggles at the worst time. "I think I was third again on lap three. I passed Cory and Taylor at one point, then right after that was a fast desert part and I was just cruising because the rain was just blowing into my eyes. I never saw them again after that."