VOL. 53 ISSUE 48 DECEMBER 6, 2016 P35
mounted Noah Kepple bested
Gary Sutherlin and Justin Mor-
gan for overall honors.
Back to an enduro format for
2016, the event saw riders take
on three loops of increasing dif-
ficulty, totaling over 70 miles of
single-track on the day. The first
loop saw Kepple and Sutherlin in
a tight battle for the lead. Suther-
lin, who only recently signed with
the newly formed Purvines DA8
Yamaha team and was still get-
ting to know his new YZ450FX,
smashed a rock with his brake
pedal on the first loop and lost
time to Kepple. Sutherlin was
able to repair the damage dur-
ing the gas stop, but he would
struggle to make up time the rest
of the day to Kepple.
Much of the course was fresh-
cut single-track with hardly any
tracks through it, making it a chal-
lenge for the leaders to follow.
All Sutherlin could do was wait
for a mistake from Kepple, but it
never came as the KTM rider re-
mained steady, "flossing his way
through the Baja bushes" as he
described it. In the end, Sutherlin
had to settle for second.
"When you're racing on a
freshly-cut trail that you have
never seen before in your life,
you need to be prepared for any-
thing that is around the corner,"
Kepple said of the unpredictable
twists, rock-faces, hills and boul-
ders that littered the course.
Third overall went to Justin
Morgan. The young Yamaha
rider found the terrain to his
liking as he is a regular in the
McCain Valley off-road area only
a few miles north of Tecate in
California. Morgan has stood
on the podium at Los Ancianos
events several times, but has yet
to take an overall win.
Other notable class winners at
the event were Kevin DeJongh
(Open A) and Rowan Trefz (Vet).
Steve Leivan topped the Senior
division while Jim Beauchamp
dominated the Masters. The
women's class win went to Kelly
Barbosa.
Jean Turner
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JEAN
TURNER
Open A winner
Kevin DeJongh
finished an
impressive
seventh overall.
Alexander Smith (son of Malcolm
Smith) on his way to second in
the Vet division.
