VOL. 54 ISSUE 10 MARCH 14, 2017 P43
bike and I finished the rest of
the [test], thinking maybe I had
a chance of finishing out the
day. But I was worried about my
health and the rest of the year so
I had the medics check me out."
Though advised that he wasn't
in physical danger, being unable
to put his boot back on Webb
called it a weekend, though he
returned the next day to hand
out posters and sign autographs.
With Webb on the sidelines,
Morgan took over the LOI race
and dominated aboard his FMF/
Maxxis/MSR-backed CRF450X,
his time/score for the day's eight
tests 39 minutes, 30.46 sec-
onds. That put him 40 seconds
ahead of Gibbs, who clocked
40:10.62 aboard his trusty
Kenda/Fly Racing YZ450F with
Stover the fastest of the E3
riders and third overall LOI at
40:18.70.
But it was Evans who was the
absolute fastest of the entire
field, scorching the eight tests
in 37:50.10 on his Carl's Cycle
Sales/Zach Evans Construc-
tion/Gear Slinger KTM 450
SX-F with Kamo impressively
fast at 38:57.80 on his PCI Race
Radios/TBT Racing/Shot KTM
450 XC-F.
On Sunday, Gibbs and
Morgan battled for LOI suprem-
acy over the first couple times
around the tests with Stover
lurking close behind on his
RaceElite.com/STI Tires/Clean
Suspension-sponsored TM 300
MX, hampered initially by arm
pump.
"Going out for the second
loop, I felt good and just started
picking it up from there and
constantly had better and better
[test] times," Stover observed,
jokingly adding, "I had one and
a half Pop Tarts before the start
of that fourth loop, so I think that
was the key to really powering
through at the end there."
Stover's score/time on Sun-
day was 38:14.26, five seconds
faster than Morgan with Gibbs
another seven seconds back.
"A few tests I thought that I
rode better than ever and then
a couple I made some pretty
costly mistakes and just wasn't
as consistent today," Morgan
admitted.
"I still think I'm looking pretty
good [for making Team USA]
with a second [overall LOI]."
But even though Evans has no
plans to try for the team going to
France in August, his speed in
Idaho suggests he has the poten-
tial to qualify in the future, even
given his familiarity with OMC.
"There's only a limited amount
of trails here and I've hopped
on them at least a few times
[over the years]," he said. "I at
least had a good general scope
of where the track was kind
of going, but they had a lot of
surprise corners on the first
test where you had to be really
cautious—a turn right after a hill,
for instance—so I still had to be
careful and follow the ribbon the
first couple tests.
"Honestly, we've been off all
winter so I didn't know how well
I would do. We had one of the
worst snow years here in Idaho
since, like, '86, I think.
"That hometown feel—I was
able to ride loose and didn't
tighten up. I think this suited my
style of racing better, having a
motocross/supercross back-
ground." His time/score on Sun-
day was an unmatched 36:11.59,
Kamo posting a 37:39.38.
Mark Kariya
Semi-retired
supercross pro
Ben Evans set
the absolute
fastest overall
time of the
weekend in
winning the AA
class.
