Gómez leads the way at Red Bull Minas Riders

Alfredo Gómez claimed a hard-fought victory on day one of the event in Brazil.

Red Bull Hard Enduro got its debut outing in South America started with a bang on day one of Red Bull Minas Riders, as the short 60km-long Time Trial put everyone through their paces. Throwing all the riders in at the deep end the opening day’s action was a sharp wake up call, and one that ensured the 2016 Hard Enduro season was definitely in full swing.

Alfredo Gómez was the man who immediately set the pace. Starting second on the trail – three minutes behind Graham Jarvis – the Spaniard put in a solid performance. Pushing hard to reel Jarvis in three-quarters of the way through the loop, the duo then rode to the finish together.

With the evening’s Prologue left to decide the outcome of the day, Gómez claimed the holeshot for the Gold class. Delivering a start-to-finish win, the KTM rider is now the early leader of the race.

Watch Paul Bolton Shred the Minas Riders Prologue

Watch Paul Bolton Shred the Minas Riders Prologue

Watch the British rider tackle the course at round one of the Red Bull Hard Enduro Series.

The new Red Bull Hard Enduro Series is back with a bang as the bravest bikers on the planet blast through the streets of Belo Horizonte in Brazil. The first event of the season is the inaugural edition of Red Bull Minas Riders, and the clip above shows British racer Paul Boltontackling the race's prologue stage.

Talking with Stefan Everts ahead of the Mexican MXGP

 

The Grand Prix of Mexico and the fifth round of 18 in the 2016 FIM MXGP Motocross World Championship this weekend means little time for reflection for Team Suzuki World MXGP and MX2 this week as the crew prepares to hike from Patagonia, Argentina and to the city of Leon and the Parque Metropolitano for the third year in a row.

After contesting a busy and temperate fourth meeting of the season at Neuquen last weekend, the Lommel, Belgium-based crew packed the RM-Z450 and 250 factory machines into freight for the journey north through the Americas.

General Manager Stefan Everts and his staff stayed in the picturesque region for a promotional event with Suzuki Argentina before exploring some of the local settings and then readying their own bags to travel out to Mexico on Wednesday.

“Normally the Grand Prix track is not open to the public so this was the chance to get out with around 15 guys, some on 250s, others on 85s and enjoy ourselves,” said Everts on the Suzuki ride-out. “We had lunch together and it was great. We’ve then found some time for a boat trip, some mountain-biking and also trekking because it is a beautiful part of the world here.”

MXGP rider Kevin Strijbos will be looking for better form and starting prowess across the Leon cactus-lined hard-pack compared to a difficult event at Neuquen where the Belgian classified ninth overall. The 30 year old has decent previous form in Mexico. At Leon in 2014 he narrowly missed the podium with a 3-2 scorecard on the RM-Z450. He sat-out the 2015 edition due to injury.

“Kevin had a good race at Leon two years ago and finished fourth; with one more position in the second moto he would have made the podium so we need to learn and work from this,” said Everts. “The conditions should be a lot warmer, maybe closer [in climate] to Thailand, and there is also the high altitude that will affect the running of the bikes so there are a couple of other factors that will come into play.

“What has really been hurting us are the starts; it is where the problems begin and where Kevin is missing a bit of confidence,” the former 10-times world champion continued. “We’ll look at the set-up and be hoping for the best this weekend.”

Mexico will be the fourth flyaway from the first five fixtures of the 2016 series and while Team Suzuki has testing planned for its return to Belgium early next week - and will be keen to establish a working routine based around European meetings (Latvia, Germany and Italy in the next five weeks alone) - there are few precious hours ahead.

“In a way it will be good to get back but there is just one weekend off before we head into three back-to-backs and on that weekend, Jeremy Seewer will be racing in the ADAC German series and possibly BT [Ben Townley] as well, although we haven’t confirmed that yet. It will be a busy time and full-gas for all the guys. We can take some free time here in Argentina, but it is not the same as being at home.”

After copping a heavy virus Ben Townley will again be sidelined and is expected back on the gate for the following round in Latvia.

On the subject of Ben Townley, the former World Champion has now flown back from his home in New Zealand and is making progress from the after-effects of a virus that ruined his Grand Prix of Europe and caused him to miss-out on the trip across the Atlantic.

"Ben should be arriving back in Europe now and will be having some more tests. He has improved and hopefully he can start riding at the weekend and maybe be in the gate for Latvia [round six]," Everts explained.

While Strijbos continues to search for the right path to results and rostrum contention in MXGP - and Townley makes a return to the form and fitness that carried him to Pole and the runner-up spot in the second moto in Thailand, -Team Suzuki World MX2 has reason for immense satisfaction in its division with Jeremy Seewer already matching his podium tally from all of 2015 with three trophies on the mantelpiece.

The Swiss is currently second in the standings behind runaway leader Jeffrey Herlings and has sprayed champagne at the last three events, including second place at Neuquen. The sight of the RM-Z250 scrapping for the lead and adding some ‘yellow’ to the front of the Grand Prix class has been one of the bright points for the team so far in 2016.

“It is great what he is doing and he has been very consistent so far,” assessed Everts. “It was a tough GP in Argentina but he really stepped-it-up in the second moto and I believe he can go right through the season with this speed and form.

“Jeffrey Herlings has been in a different league and it is hard to get close to him…but we have all seen what can happen. We will keep working hard and progressing and we have a few things to try with the bike when we get back to Europe that could help. So far I have to say it has been unbelievably good.”

Temperatures topping 30 degrees are forecast for the weekend in Leon and the time difference stands at seven hours behind CET.

The Idaho Hare & Hound iExperiment

Doing my best Hunter S. Thompson impression, I attempt to cover an offroad desert race with an iPhone and naiveté.

By Dale Spangler

With the second round of the National Hare & Hound Series coming to Murphy, Idaho recently, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to snap some photos and film the entire experience—all with just an iPhone. I made it a personal challenge to shoot and edit an entire race video using only an iPhone 6 Plus. Piece of cake, right? Was I ever wrong, and wow! did I vastly underestimate how difficult it is to do either of the above at a desert race.

First off, it's a bit of a free-for-all. This is both good and bad. Good because, for someone like me attempting to cover the event, we have unlimited access to go wherever we want. Bad because I quickly realized that everyone is spread out all over the place in a willy-nilly fashion (often in unmarked vehicles) so it can be hard to find someone in particular. Racers and spectators alike can come and go, park wherever, and basically sprawl out in the main pit area as they please. Ultimately, what this means is that it's up to the person covering the event (me in this case) to make it what they want because there is no such thing as a media credential or media center; no haves or have nots here when it comes to access. This is both refreshing and intimidating at the same time, especially if (like me) you come in with little experience and no plan. I quickly realized how vastly unprepared I was for the large distances these events cover. I showed up in my Subaru Legacy (scraping sagebrush on the way in worried about getting a flat) with a backpack to carry my equipment. A total rookie. No motorcycle; no ATV; no UTV. Just a backpack, a wide brimmed hat to stave off sunburn, and a pair of hiking boots.

For pictures and the rest of this interesting story visit www.dirtbuzz.com

Racer X Films: The Untold Story of Cairo, Georgia: Part 1

For more than a dozen years, Cairo, Georgia has filled the entry list as the most popular town in amateur motocross, with more entries at Loretta Lynn's hailing from that small spot on the Florida/Georgia line than any other. But while Cairo has provided the training ground for famous residents like Millsaps, Carmichael, Barcia and more, it was still a town very much at odds with the sport. In part one of our in depth look at Cairo, hear the story of how the town nearly pushed the tracks away completely--and you can find all the the data behind the tracks, the town, and the economic study that proved the sport's worth in the June 2016 issue of Racer X Illustrated, on sale now.

Monster Energy Supercross Chasing the Dream: Trailer Episode 3

Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, is the premier off-road motorcycle racing circuit in the world, produced inside the world's most elite stadiums. Monster Energy® Supercross tracks are man-made inside the stadium. Some of the sport's marquee names include Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Trey Canard, Jason Anderson, Chad Reed, David Millsaps and former supercross greats Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael. Regarded as the king of action sports, supercross has been described as one of the most physically demanding sports.

GP of Argentina

Although you could argue whether it is worth investing time and money into some of the other flyaway events that the FIM Motocross World Championship visits, there is no denying that the GP of Argentina has been a welcome addition to the schedule. The Neuquén circuit again provided some brilliant racing this past weekend, which left the twenty-nine thousand fans in attendance thrilled.

It was a sea of orange and white at the front when the first MX2 moto roared into life; Max Anstie and Thomas Covington led the Red Bull KTM pairing of Jeffrey Herlings and Pauls Jonass through turn one. The order soon changed, however, as Jonass crashed hard in the second turn and never re-joined the race. Meanwhile, his teammate had already moved into the lead by the end of the first official lap. ‘84’ was, unsurprisingly, not challenged from that point on and took another easy victory.

Aleksandr Tonkov was chasing Anstie for second following this but, although he was never more than four seconds down on ‘99’, was never close enough to attempt a pass. Those two were thirty-four seconds adrift of the eventual race winner at the end, but still fourteen seconds up on Jeremy Seewer in fourth. Samuele Bernardini rounded out the top five in what was the best race of his career. Petrov, Vlaanderen, Brylyakov, Zaragoza and Covington completed the top ten in this one. Thomas was sat comfortably in the top five, but faded late because of the ankle injury that he is nursing.

Jeffrey Herlings actually got a much worse start in the second MX2 encounter, which caused interest to peak. The Dutchman made some quick passes, however, and had passed Aleksandr Tonkov to take the lead by the end of lap one. A hectic battle for second quickly ensued following this; you could have chucked a blanket over Tonkov, Anstie, Jonass and Seewer. Max was the first to bow out of the fight, as a mechanical issue caused him to pull in and miss out on points yet again.

Jonass took second soon after that, but eventually dropped off the pace somewhat and gave way to Seewer and Tonkov. The latter stalked Jeremy to the finish, but ultimately came up just short yet again. A brace of thirds was still good enough for him to make his way onto the overall podium for the second time this year though. Herlings was, of course, stood alongside him on the box with Seewer also up there in second overall.

The first MXGP moto lived up to expectations, thanks partly to the fact that Romain Febvre got an awful start and then fell on lap one. Antonio Cairoli took the early lead, but soon gave way to a hard charging Max Nagl. Nagl never looked back from this point, but if he had he would have seen an intense battle for the runner-up spot. Evgeny Bobryshev swapped positions with Cairoli for a lot of the race, but then Tim Gajser charged forward and disposed of them both.

The pole sitter failed to sustain that pace, however, and Cairoli soon charged past again. That is how it would eventually end, with Tony and Tim rounding out the top three in the moto. Bobryshev held on for fourth, but had to deal with pressure from Jeremy van Horebeek late on. Febvre rebounded for a respectable sixth place, followed by Clement Desalle, Shaun Simpson, Glenn Coldenhoff and Tommy Searle. Thanks to his crash, Romain saw his advantage at the head of the table drop to eight points.

Tim Gajser got a much better start in the second MXGP moto, but it could have ended in disaster when his back end got kicked exiting the first turn. Cairoli, Simpson and Febvre attempted to hunt him down early on, but the latter fell and again had to push through traffic. Romain charged all the way back to third, in another impressive ride, but he ultimately missed out on a top three ranking overall for the first time in almost a year.

Anyway, Gajser ended up establishing a comfortable margin over Cairoli; he was extending his advantage by half a second a lap at one point. The Slovenian went on to claim the moto victory, which, when paired with his third from race one, was enough to give him the second MXGP overall win of his short 450F career. Cairoli and Nagl joined him up on the podium, with the former claiming his first trophy since the French GP in June last year.

The MXGP series standings have tightened up considerably now, as Gajser sits just three points down on Febvre as the circus heads into the GP of Leon (Mexico) next weekend.

Words: Lewis Phillips

Get pumped for the new Red Bull Hard Enduro Series

One look at our Red Bull Hard Enduro Series teaser clip in the player above lets you know that we're in for another season to remember. The coming months promise to push the limits to new heights and serve up some of the most memorable races in living memory.

The new campaign gets underway in Brazil as Hard Enduro welcomes a fresh event to its already bumper calendar – Red Bull Minas Riders. The four day race in Belo Horizonte will see the stars of the sport do their best to put down an early marker for success in 2016. Then come a host of familiar races to those who follow Hard Enduro, including the iconic Red Bull Hare Scramble at Erzberg and the season finale Roof of Africa race in Lesotho.

Fly Racing's Josh Strang Leads GNCC

Catch Up - GNCC Leader Josh Strang

2016 has started in the best possible way for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Josh Strang. Hitting winning form during the closing stages of the 2015 GNCC series, following a well-earned winter break back home in Australia, he’s secured victories at both rounds one and two of this year's GNCC championship.

Josh, how does it feel to be heading into this weekend’s third round of the GNCC series with a perfect 60-point score from rounds one and two?

Josh Strang: “It feels good, but there’s a long way to go in the championship. There’s nothing better than making a winning start but I’ve made strong starts to championships before so I know not to get too carried away. I felt good heading into Florida but I never put too much pressure on myself to win there. It’s an important race, but it’s just one race and not like any other round of the series.”

The GNCC opener in Florida is well known for being brutal. Did it, as well as the second round in Georgia, go as you hoped it would?

“Like I said, I felt like I should be competitive in Florida. But it was the race in Georgia that I guess was the more important result. That race is like a regular GNCC, so to win there was important to me. I was last off the line in Florida but the track was a little tighter than normal and the race pace a little slower, which helped me. Honestly, the win came pretty easily – I felt good. At round two I rode with Kailub all race and beat him at the finish.”

You headed back to Australia during your off-season. How important was it for you to enjoy a well-earned end-of-year break?

“I’d not been back to Australia for two years, so I felt like it was a little overdue. It’s always important to take a break, especially as I’ll have 27 races to compete in this year. I was able to relax but kept training hard. I knew what I needed to do to be ready for 2016 and the winning results I got at the end of 2015 certainly kept my motivation up.”

2016 is your second year with the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team. How important is it for you that you’re able to build on the hard work everyone put in last season?

“Continuing to be a part of the Husqvarna team – a team that’s putting as much into getting winning results as I am – is a huge part of why I’m riding well at the moment. It’s been hard for me in the past, switching teams year-on-year. Now I’m really settled, which is really showing in my results. Honestly, my bike is really good. But that’s just one part of having a solid programme. My bike and being with a team of people who want to win, it’s really cool.”

Kailub Russell has been the dominant rider in recent GNCC seasons. Do you feel like you now have everything you need to challenge him for the title?

“Kailub set the bar high in 2015. He’s been the rider to beat for a few years now, and knows woods racing inside out. It was great to get a couple of wins at the end of 2015, which kind of started the ball rolling for me. He’s been able to build on his programme year-on-year and got stronger year-on-year. I feel like I have a great bike, team and programme now, so I’m focused on doing all I can to keep challenging for race wins.”

You mentioned you have 27 races this year, what's your schedule for 2016?

“I’m racing the GNCC and National Enduro championships, and some of the Full Gas Sprint Enduro races. I’m still kind of learning the National Enduro format because racing in tighter trees isn't something that I’ve done too much of. But it’s fun and I’d really like to get a win at one of those races some time soon. Things are going well in the GNCC right now so that championship’s really important.”

Behind the Race with Dirt Inc. – Hosts of the Murphy, Idaho National Hare & Hound

 Murphy, Idaho National Hare & Hound

 

We find out what it takes to host a national-level offroad race in this interview with the Dirt Inc. Motorcycle Club out of Caldwell, Idaho.

As racers it's not often that we think about the work and details required to put on a single race. We show up, race our dirt bike, load up and go home. Meanwhile, long after we’ve left and driven home a group of hard working volunteers work tirelessly to take down the same course they worked long and hard for months leading up to the event to assemble. The sheer number of man hours that goes into any given event is way more than any of us can likely comprehend. With this in mind, we thought we’d dig into exactly what goes into a single national-level offroad race; in this case, the Murphy, Idaho round of the National Hare & Hound Series, hosted by Dirt Inc. Motorcycle Club out of Caldwell, Idaho and its President “Wild” Bill Walsh.

Click here for the complete story and more pictures  www.dirtbuzz.com