World's Best in Colorado!

The 2010 Motocross des Nation was held in Lakewood Colorado. This is only the third time it has been held in the United States and the first in a western state. A huge crowd greeted riders from across the world on a picture perfect Colorado weekend. Near record temperatures of ninety degrees without a cloud in the sky was the rule for both days of racing.

Sunday’s racing started with the ten teams that had not qualified directly into the event on Saturday.  A wide range of talent was evident. AMA National rider, Martin Davalos holeshot and lead the entire event on his 250F. Riders from Ireland and the rest of Davalos’s Ecuadorian team struggled to match his pace. In the end, Ireland, on the strength of Grand Prix competitors Gordon Crockard and Martin Barr earned the last team position to make it into the actual competition.

The last place teams from Costa Rica and Mexico were lapped twice in the first five laps and were doing a good job of being a moving chicane on the track, with lap times almost a minute slower then Davalos. I doubt those team riders could have won the novice class back home at Marysville’s E-street MX.  Though lacking in talent, Mexico did have a great team transporter. Former power house Sweden, ran mid pack in the event and had former competitor Gunnar Lindstrom wondering how the situation had changed so much.

In the first moto, a combined MX1 and MX2 event had Spain’s Jonathan Barragan out front. He lead for two laps before US team veteran Ryan Dungey flew past him and rode unchallenged to the win. US hopes took a serious set back when our 250F rider, Trey Canard hit the ground in the first turn. He came around almost twenty seconds behind the pack on the first lap. From there, Canard put in a strong ride to finish in 12th place.

Moto two started with what has become a US norm; Andrew Short grabbing the hole shot and leading the first two laps. New Zealand’s Ben Townley was pressuring Short and passed him in front of the grandstands in what many who saw the pass described as a “take out move” which left Short on the ground with a broken clutch assembly. Canard started about fifteenth and put in a strong ride to finish 7^th. Short without the benefit of a clutch picked himself off the ground and ended the moto in thirteenth. Germany put in an amazing ride with 250F rider Ken Roczen holding down second for most of the moto. The sixteen year old was very fast and smooth. He ended the moto in third with Team “Puerto Rico” and Texas resident Kyle Regal finishing second.

Going into the final moto the US team found itself in second to Germany one point down with the Belgium team in a close third. Our riders responded to the pressure with another Short hole shot with Ryan Dungey in tow. At about half way Dungey passed Short and pulled out a comfortable ten second lead. Townley pressured Short for second but eventually crashed himself out of the event. Short held second to the end and ended the moto with an impressive whip off the finish line table top. The Colorado native finish capped the event for the local crowd who could only be described as enthusiastic.

The one two moto finish’s allowed the US to win the event, with Belgium and Germany sharing the podium. It was a great finish in what can only be described as a fantastic weekend.

2011 KTM 350 SXF – from a Vets view!

My goodness it is that time of the year already! The 2011 bikes are hitting the showroom floors and tracks just about on the same day. 

I had the opportunity to try the new long awaited KTM 350 SXF on a MX track and also the trails of Idaho. The motocross track was a sand track and a smaller layout than normal, so the 350 SXF was right at home on this type of track.

Now I am more of a big bore rider, (450-500cc suits me) but was pleasantly surprised on the first couple of laps at how easy this bike was to ride. It didn’t have the power of a 450cc (obviously) but still pulled with authority when exiting a turn. The only thing I had to remember to do was to shift down one extra gear before exiting the turn. Not because it was slow but because the smaller engine requires more RPM than the bigger motors. No problem, it was a quick learning curve even for a “veteran” rider in the upper end of that age bracket.

After a lap or two I was riding this bike like it was mine.

The power was like something I would expect from a fully built National caliber 250cc (think Monster Pro Circuit fast) race bike, but without the short fused time bomb you get when you do those type of things to a small bore bike. I expect this bike will run many hours without touching the motor. It had decent bottom end, very good mid range power and didn’t seem to hit redline until, well I am not sure when. I never really felt the need to push it that far because it seemed to want to rev until you got tired!

The suspension was very impressive without me adjusting a thing for my weight, supple, but never bottomed on this sand track. I can only imagine if it were my bike and I could set it up for me how much better it is capable of being without spending a ton of loot on aftermarket upgrades. In stock configuration I was impressed at how easily it turned. It only required minimal input from me to get it around any corner. Made for a less tiring ride which means I could ride it longer at a quicker pace. If that sounds like fun then you are starting to get the idea! This bike really was fun, even for a diehard big bore rider.

Now on to the off road trails of Idaho where I was fortunate enough to ride another KTM 350 SXF.  Remember this is a MX designed machine and we flogged it on tight, twisty, uphills, creek crossings and all things technical in the off road world.

Lo and behold it was fun to do all of this on the 350 SXF!

Two things became apparent almost immediately ...

1. It is geared too tall for off road work.

The gearing only presented an issue for the less experienced off road rider. He struggled in tight technical sections due to first gear being just too tall. We fixed that on day two by changing to a 13 tooth countershaft sprocket. Voila’, problem solved. However now we had to deal with a top speed limit of 45-50 mph due to overall gearing being too low. So this made it perfectly clear that KTM needs to make this bike in a 6 speed or a wide ratio model to use off road. But, boy was it fun on the tight trails, the power was awesome. It would chug down to what seemed like 500-rpm and pull cleanly with the fuel injection. No hit, no abruptness, just a nice steady pull until you shifted. I kept a finger on the clutch just in case but almost never used it. Great motor!

2. The radiators will need to be bigger for difficult trail riding.

The lower speeds seemed to not flow quite enough air to the radiators to keep the 350 SXF happy. Our loops took us on some “A” sections with switchbacks, steep climbs and slow boulder gardens that caused us to have to add water a couple of times. Thankfully we crossed a couple of creeks that supplied us with the necessary KTM fluid replacement we needed to keep going without harming the engine. The stingy guys I rode with were not giving up any of their water from the Camelbaks they were carrying. They were feeling the same water loss as the KTM so that gives you an idea of the difficulty of the trails we were on.

Overall, this MX designed bike worked very well outside it’s designated arena. It felt very light in the tight sections, didn’t tire a rider out prematurely and took all the abuse we could throw at it in 2 days of off road riding. I was even impressed at the abuse the clutch took on the first day with the excessively tall gearing. It never faded or chattered. Impressive.

The suspension was MX oriented and you could tell it would need to be softened up to use off road. It never made you feel like you didn’t want to ride it because we were having so much fun flogging someone else’s bike. Oops, did I say that out loud?

When KTM builds this as a 350 XCF with the transmission, cooling and softer suspension this bike will surely rule the off road world.

Ride one if you get the chance.

#33

Dual Sport Anyone?

Sometimes you want to ride but you just don't want to go pound out laps on the track. So what can you do? How about you bust out a hundred or so miles through the Sierras. Dual Sport riding can be a blast! Take a look at what a good ride looks like.

Two for the road.

I met Zac at his house in Foresthill at 7:00 AM by 7:30 we were on the road headed ultimately to Truckee. On the way up to Robinson Flat we wove our way in and out and off and on some of the OHV trails that are on both sides of the paved road to Robinson Flat. From there until we got into Soda Springs we were on either trails or dirt roads.

After leaving Robinson Flat we stayed on the dirt road for a few miles until we picked up the Western States trail. This trail is the one used by the runners in the 100 mile Tahoe to Auburn foot race run once a year and is known as the Western States 100. If you complete the run within 24 hours you receive a buckle. This is also where the Tevis Cup is held once a year, this is a 100 mile horse race, run over virtually the same course.

Same thing if you finish within 24 hours you will receive a belt buckle.

I’ve had the pleasure of ridding a lot of the Western States trail on horseback. Actually the foot race started one year as a result of a rider’s horse not passing the initial vet check before the race, so the rider decided to run the race on foot. (He finished and thus started the annual foot race) Anyway we rode on this trail for many miles, a lot of up, down and side hills. Some of the side hills were a little hairy but all were passable. The Tevis Cup had been held the previous weekend so a lot the trails were pretty chewed up from over two hundred horses having tromped on them. We got off the trail when it began to head into Desolation Valley. From there into Soda Springs we rode on dirt roads.

From Soda Springs we followed dirt roads next to the railroad tracks into the Donner Ski Ranch. Our timing was excellent as they were preparing for a National Champion Trials event that weekend. After leaving Donner we followed old abandoned train tracks that took us through many tunnels and snow shreds, some of those tunnels were pitch black and it was difficult to see even with a headlight. Most of the tunnels had some standing water which added to the pucker factor. Riding along the old rail road beds on the side of the hills in the Sierras was absolutely beautiful; we eventually ended up in downtown Truckee.

We rode through Truckee and headed north on highway 89 a few miles then turned west and headed out to the Prosser Valley area, I didn’t know it but there’s a dam, lake and OHV area out there complete with a pretty nice MX track. We rode the track, and trails out there for a while, the nice thing about these trails is they aren’t all beat up, my guess is this area is used mostly by locals.

After that excursion we went back into Truckee had a bite to eat and headed back to Donner where we spent some time looking at some of the sections for the trials. We were also able to watch a few riders practicing including Cody Webb who clinched the national trials championship that weekend. After watching in amazement the incredible things these guys can do we headed back to Foresthill.

We took mostly the same route back,  but we did not go back on the Western States trails  because we knew a lot of the long down hills were so chewed up we would spend a lot of time pushing are way up to the tops. And for me a Dual Sport ride is not about pushing up any crappy trails.

Besides all the wonderful sites we saw on the way to and from I was entertained the whole way by Zac popping wheelies, some that seemed like they went on forever, and  some at fifty plus miles per hour, totally amazing. We ended up back at Zac’s about 4:00PM a nice 8 ½ hour 181.8 mile dual sport ride. And yes I was tired and yes I was a little sore the next few days.

Doug 21J

YZ 295 Kit Test

Mike Harper's YZ 295 test run at Mammoth Bar OHV. Mike Harper owner of Halls Furniture in Citrus Heights, CA has always been a two stroke fan. He has always been fast but just wanted to see what a little more power would mean to his already competitive YZ250. Mike won the Senior Expert class at this year's Hangtown but felt like he needed more power to run with the 450's up those big hills.  Mike is going to let us know all about this engine mod as he gets more time on the bike. Look for round two in a few weeks.

Old Racers - Where are they now?

 WHERE DO THEY GO?

Some quit racing and take up golf or just sit on the couch and get fat.  However, some find other outlets for their competitive spirit. Many of you may remember perennial front runner Jack Coulombe who for years made all the International Old Timer National races. Jack had a long, successful career racing MX and joined the Old Timer race circuit when it first began. He was in the mix for the win no matter the class, 40, 50 or 60. Multiple wrist injuries finally forced Jack to retire from racing.

So what’s an old racer do? Well Jack retired from his job as a Fire Chief, moved to the north coast of CA and built a house from scratch by himself. Next he decided he had to do something to replace racing so he took up surfing for the first time in his life. So now he spends several days a week trying to remain atop the food chain as he bobs in the water off the Mendocino coast.  He has also taken up cycling, both mountain and road. Just as with his old MX days he is still very competitive weather blasting down some very steep Mendocino mountain or blitzing a local Century ride.

Old racers still race!

Dr. D

A Day of Testing With Doug Dubach from Doug Dubach on Vimeo.

Two Strokes Still Exist!

USGP Rider comments from MXLarge

Looks like the new KTM 350 will be a player. The bike looked very good at Hangtown and even better at Glen Helen. I’m sure KTM dealers can hardly wait to get their hands on one. Here is a couple of comments from Glen Helen this past weekend.

Antonio Cairoli

“It was nice to win here because it’s been a long time since there was a USGP. “I like to fight with Mike Alessi, one of the best riders over here in the USA. We can improve a lot more, also with the bike, we are working really well and we’re very happy. Today everything went perfect, also in the long straight here at Glen Helen where I got the holeshot in the first moto and was in the top six in the second.” 
 
Mike Alessi

“It was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun racing with Tony Cairoli and the rest of the top GP riders. My KTM was working very well this weekend. It was very good in the corners and on the hills and I got a second place start in the first moto and a third place start in the second. I learned a lot and I had fun.”