IN
THE
WIND
P34
BLAIS RACING TEAM WINS JBC 10-HOUR
ENDURANCE RACE
T
he 2016 John Burr Cycles 10
Hours of Glen Helen Endur-
ance Race was held just one day
before the official beginning of
summer in scorching record heat,
but that didn't keep away the 45
teams that completed on June 19.
The thermometer in the shade
floated around 105 degrees,
making the event downright
brutal, especially without any
reprieve from cloud cover. The
course was just slightly over
six miles in length, mixing both
Glen Helen's National and REM
tracks, ridgeline roads and some
single track. The Blais Racing
team – consisting of Ben Meza,
Kyle Mercier and Brendan Crow,
aboard a KTM 300 two-stroke
– worked their way into the lead
after two hours and stayed there,
keeping a slight gap on the John
Burr Cycles Team of Jeff Loop,
Sean Lipanovich and Dalton
Shirey (Husqvarna). Only one
minute separated first and sec-
ond place after 10 hours in the
nasty heat. The Beta team of Ty
Cullins, Mike DelFante, and Rory
Dodson rounded out the podium
in third. Morgan Tanke took the
Ironman-class win with 28 laps
completed aboard a Beta.
Not to be left out of the
high-heat fun, Cycle News
put together a team, riding a
CRF450X to third in the Busi-
ness class. The 2014 and 2015
10-Hour events were night races
to save riders from the summer
heat, but lower entry numbers
forced the switch back to day-
light hours. Quite possibly after
the intense heat of the 2016,
maybe the 2017 will be back to a
night race.
The John Burr Cycles 24-
Hour race takes place on Octo-
ber 15-16.
Adam Booth
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
ADAM
BOOTH
The winning Blais
Racing Team.
The Blais Team
survived the
brutal triple-
digit heat and
dry conditions.
