VOL. 54 ISSUE 48 DECEMBER 5, 2017 P23
ditions at the 2016 event, yet the
same winner emerged—Noah
Kepple topped the field at the
end of the day, besting Justin
Morgan and Dustin McCarthy.
GasGas-backed Kepple was
excited to be among the few
who have ever had back-to-back
wins at the infamous race, say-
ing, "It was a really awesome
day. I'm really excited to go two
in a row. Coming down here
we knew it was going to be dry
and dusty so we were a little
nervous, but just started strong
today and was able to get a
good start and gap the guys that
were on my row—Eric Yorba and
Justin Morgan."
Kepple won the first test with
about a three-minute gap, and
made an effort to duplicate his
performance on the second
loop. But after getting out to a
good start, a tip-over left him
stuck behind Morgan's dust until
the end of the test. Morgan took
the second test by about 40
seconds followed by Kepple and
Yorba.
"Then the third test was the
typical Los Ancianos, they're just
testing us all on the third loop,"
Kepple commented. "That was
probably the hardest third loop
that they've ever had down here,
or that I've ever raced."
Runner-up Justin Morgan
agreed, "It was a pretty long day.
The third loop was more techni-
cal than usual, I think. It had a
couple pretty good sections."
Morgan gave Kepple a good
chase all the way through the
day, and was also hung up a little
when he stopped for downed
rider Yorba on the third loop.
"He was fine," Morgan as-
sured. "But I think he banged
himself up pretty good."
Yorba went on to finish the
race in fourth overall, yielding to
McCarthy before the end of the
final test.
Fifth overall went to Kevin De-
Jongh, who was the first Open
rider. The Vet class win went
to Kellon Walch, who carded
ninth overall. The Vet class saw
a stacked field, which included
Alexander Smith (5th Vet, 19th
o/a), with a little support from
father, Malcolm Smith who made
an appearance at the Los Ancia-
nos event.
Larry Roeseler was another
familiar face at the race. The
former overall winner of multiple
Los Ancianos Tecate Enduros
took on the 50+ class aboard
his Kawasaki and dueled with
Grant Palenske for the win, but
had to settle for second after
Palenske took the lead late in
the third loop.
Full results from the 2017
Tecate Enduro will be available
at http://www.losancianos.
com/.
Jean Turner
Overall Results:
1. Noah Kepple (Gas)
2. Justin Morgan (Hon)
3. Dustin McCarthy (Yam)
4. Eric Yorba (KTM)
5. Kevin DeJongh (KTM) Open
(Right) Justin Morgan came close
to winning, yet again, but had to
settle for second place.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
SCOTT
PENWARDEN
