Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 54 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 22, 2017 P103 THE END? After all the time and effort and money, what was it all worth? With only minutes to pack up the containers and head to the airport, the ending of the Top of the World Land Speed Trial was abrupt; literally every ounce of daylight had been soaked up by the team's effort. With the disappearing light and rapidly dropping temperatures, the Sa- lar quickly lets you know when it's time to go. It didn't leave much time for reflection on the overall event, and whether the first-ever Bolivian world speed trial will signal a shift in interna- tional land-speed racing. "I really don't know what's next," Robinson said. "I'm going to leave that up to Mike [Aka- the chain. But that was the undoing because that's not something we can fix in time to go again." Upon seeing the second turbo failure, Akatiff began calculating barometric figures in his head. "The difference is we're at 20 inches of mercury here. And at sea level you're at 15. Bonnev- ille you're about 18. That makes a lot of difference. You got all that boost and no atmospheric pressure outside. It's just, nothing we would have thought about. The next guy that tries this will learn from us. "We're very disappointed, of course. We weren't able to set a record here, go over 400. But we gave it our best shot and this is not an easy thing to do. We still hold the record; we can say that. But this was just not our time." At the end of a long and frustrating week, the missed opportunity did not sit well with the Akatiff team, but as they know all too well, when you're speeding into uncharted terri- tory, you can't always predict what will happen. "At Bonneville, everyone says it's the Bonneville curse. Well I think there's a Bolivian curse here too," Akatiff said. "Because we had odd things happen on the bike that just didn't make any sense. I can say this, if anybody beats that record, I take my hat off to them because it's a really hard thing to do." again. Had to take it apart again…" The next day was Sun- day, when Hudson made a pass at 274 mph. It was a good sign, but the bike overheated and also devel- oped blisters on the tires, thwarting any hopes of a qualifying turnaround run. "On Monday we re-geared it," Hudson explained. "I thought everything was going to be great, and we did a run only 266. It wasn't faster than the existing record, which Al Lamb set on Sunday, so I was pretty disappointed." Monday afternoon turned into a shootout be- tween Lamb and Hudson, with both riders setting qualifying times for a new record. "We made our next run and I was not feeling very hopeful but it turned out to be 281," Hudson said. "And Al had just run a 285. I had a pretty good run, stayed in it and we actually went 289 on the return. So the aver- age came out to 284 and change. Al's first run was 285 but his return was 272. So his average was lower. But only by a couple miles an hour. So it was extremely close!" It marked an exciting finish to the event, and a very sporting competition between two race teams that had been helping each other out all week. "What a day!" Hudson exclaimed. "Because I started out feeling like, 'I don't have a chance.' And then it's like, 'He's four miles an hour faster…I got some chance.' Then he made his next run 13 miles an hour slower than his original. It's like, 'I've got a chance!' And then my last run was four miles an hour faster than his best run. So, wow! I didn't think it was going to happen. "You just don't give up." Ralph Hudson makes one of his few runs during the event.