IN
THE
WIND
P46
So his heart sank when he
realized that he'd missed a way-
point while concentrating on dic-
ing with Haaker, a mistake that
nearly every one of the top Pros
except David Kamo made.
"I started thinking, 'Oh man, I
lost the race again!'
"But they told me when I came
in [to the pits] that a lot of other
guys missed it, so I started think-
ing in my head about the points,
like, 'Kamo got fourth this morn-
ing and if he gets first, that might
be enough [to win], I don't know,
but I'll finish!'
He continued, "As soon as I
heard that, I put my head down
and pretty much sprinted that
whole last lap. I changed my
rear tire [to one with a stickier
compound] and messed with
my clickers because I was get-
ting beat up that first lap. I felt I
ripped that second loop around
there, trying to make some time
and it ended up working out that
those guys didn't make it to the
check [by the cutoff time]."
So, even with a penalty for
missing the waypoint, Webb
added a fourth KOM title to his
resume.
But the missed waypoint and
what many felt were inconsistent
application of rules and penalties
resulted in some grumbling from
the other top finishers. "I was
right behind Cody when I went to
fix my mistake [and find the way-
point], but it ended up costing
me an extra 45 minutes to run
this extra distance so by the time
I came back to do my third loop,
I ran out of time because I went
to fix that mistake where Jimmy's
throwing [that waypoint] out and
saying it doesn't matter because
I did it out of order, but out of
order to me doesn't matter when
you don't put the checkpoints
in sequential order [on the GPS
track]," the TE 250i-mounted
Haaker complained. "My riding
was fine. I only fell down once so
that was good."
Kenda/Motul/Klim 300
RR-mounted Gerston echoed
Haaker, saying, "I was told when
I finished that if you didn't hit the
checkpoints in order, then they
didn't even count and I did the
whole loop backwards. I hit all
the checkpoints but not in order
then now it looks like that's okay.
The main emotion of the day was
frustration."
And frustration certainly
described Kamo, the first
rider
to finish and hit all waypoints
in order aboard his PCI Race
Radios/Kurt Caselli Foundation/
Klim KTM 300 XC. Originally,
credited with second, he ended
up an unofficial fifth behind
FMF/Nitro Mousse/Thor Gas
Gas XC 300-mounted Kepple.
Mark Kariya
KOM Unofficial Results:
1. Cody Webb (KTM)
2. Colton Haaker (Hus)
3. Max Gerston (Bet)
4.
Noah Kepple (Gas)
5. David Kamo (KTM)
Though he saved it
here, Max Gerston
(15, right) couldn't
hold off Haaker much
longer and ended up
third after missing one
waypoint that almost
universally caught
people out.
