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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OFF ROAD SCORE WORLD DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 / NOVEMBER 16, 2017 LA PAZ, B.C., MEXICO P58 eight times in it." Second Iroman Michael Skurkis said, "I had a few issues but kept pushing forward just to bring it in. The course was unforgiving but the fans made it all worth it. You're out there by yourself and you're tired, you're hungry, everything hurts, you're cold, you're wet and you come around a corner and there are thousands of fans cheering. It pumps you up and gets the adrenaline going." Jose Carrasco was third Ironman but it could've been worse. "We are so happy I'm almost speechless," he said. "We wanted to end the year on the best note but we had a few mechanical problems and then another issue where I fell asleep and fell into a cliff. Luckily nothing happened, I'm safe and the bike is good. It made us lose a lot of time. I couldn't be happier with all the help my team gave me." Cody Schaffer was a member of the winning Sportsman Mo- torcycle team. "We had a rough race," Schaffer said. "We had our second guy fall off six miles in and he dislocated his shoul- der. Everybody had to toughen up and make it happen. The silt felt pretty endless this year." CN Pro Moto 50 runners-up Kevin Archer, Sean Clark, Rider of Record Robert Creemers, Pete Heard and Doug Herbert (all from New Zealand) on the 515X CRF450X (28:40:51) rounded out the top 10 bikes overall. Jeff Benrud took top honors in the Pro Moto Ironman. "It was brutal," he said. "I was feeling really bad about halfway through then I ate a bunch of food and felt better. I got a good shot of adrenaline the last 80 miles with all of the Mexicans cheering me on and I knew I was in the lead. Lots of prayers to make sure I would get here. I'm kind of numb in an out-of-body experience now. This is the third year I've finished across the line first in the Ironman class but I've been penalized to second twice. The silt is tough for me. I'm short and fall down in silt and I hate silt. It is terrible. I was down seven or Howes, Rider of Record Garrett Poucher, Schuyler Schoonmak- er and Michel Valenzuela took fifth overall bike and fifth Pro Moto Unlimited in 24:03:37. Max Drew, Rider of Record Carlin Dunne, Chris Eberz, Steven Hatch and Forrest McIntosh on the 55X CRF450X (25:12:07); Pro Moto 40 winners Jeff Kawell, Rider of Record Jano Montoya, Alberto Ruiz, Kirk Russell and Francisco Septien on the 400X KTM 450 XC-W (26:56:08); Pro Moto 30 winners Greg Bardonnex, Kris Kilbride, Rider of Record Ryan Liebelt, Andrew Pucket, Justin Schultz and Brandon Wright (27:13:30); Pro Moto 50 winners Lou Franco, Chris Goolsby, Record Robert Gates, Bob Johnson, Mike Johnson, Jeff Kaplan, David Potts, Doug Smith and Steve Williams on the 549X CRF450X (27:29:46); and You never know who'll show up to race the Baja 1000. On the left is surf legend Laird Hamilton, who raced a UTV, while David Kamo (who was on the winning motorcycle team last year) concentrated on working for PCI Race Radios.