DeLong and Thomas have been in North Carolina doing motos and suspension testing with Genuine Dirt Rider.
The off-season is finally over! It’s been a busy week with the National Hare Scramble last weekend and the National Enduro this coming weekend. Things are definitely buzzing here in Hickory, NC with a ton of riders around getting in practice before Sumter and it’s really got me pumped to get back to racing!
I spent yesterday filming with Jason Thomas and Andrew Delong of the FAR Husqvarna team as they prepared for the first National Enduro this weekend down in Sumter. As you can see in the video, there’s no lack of sand at Chad Perry’s track in Morganton, NC and both of the boys were definitely flying. The wide open terrain isn’t much like an Enduro, so it’s hard to say how they’ll do come Sunday, but they look to be on pace for some solid finishes in the XC2 Pro Lites class once the GNCC season kicks off in March. If you pay attention closely in the video you’ll notice some changes in gear and equipment for the team. They’re still rocking Fly Racing Gear and Eks Brand Goggles for 2012, but have switched to Bell Helmets and to Alpinestars boots. On the machines, they’re running Easton handlebars this season which is pretty cool to see a new brand get involved with off-road.
While we were out shooting, Nate Kanney and Chris Bach were out pounding laps and making adjustments on their bikes. Both of these riders will be heading to Sumter this weekend as well and will be looking to improve on their results from the National Hare Scramble. Bach is obviously just coming off of knee surgery and Kanney hasn’t had as much seat time up in New York on his new Honda so look for both of these riders to make big improvements in speed and fitness over the next few weeks leading up to the GNCC opener.
Thomas and his new teammate seem to work very well together, riding motos together to push each other.
By now I’m sure you’ve seen the results from the Burnt Gin National Hare Scramble that took place this past weekend as well as the two videos we posted, but if you haven’t, stop what you’re doing right now and watch these!
The race had a stacked pro field of 29 riders with some serious heavy hitters like Charlie Mullins, Russell Bobbitt, Cory Buttrick, Jordan Ashburn, Jason Raines, Brad Bakken, Nate Kanney, and Chris Bach. It was Ashburn who jumped out to an early lead and was absolutely flying on his YZ 250 2-stroke. Charlie Mullins was working his way up from a not-so-great start on his Dungey Edition KTM 450 SX-F and struggled a bit getting used to the not-so-sandy sand/clay mix soil. Charlie admitted after the race that he had a few crashes on the first lap just getting used to riding in something other than the deep Florida sand he’s been pounding laps in for the past couple of months.
CoryB jumped out to an early lead at the National Hare Scramble but would run out of gas on the second lap.
Eventually Mullins would run down Ashburn and make a pass and pull out a small lead until on the last lap Ashburn was forced to pit after a tangle with a lapper resulted in a mangled front wheel. His pit stop allowed a hard-charging Steward Baylor to make a pass for 2nd but Ashburn would eventually get him back and that’s how they ended up finishing.
There were a few surprise rides in my mind, the first we’ve already talked about with Ashburn just killing it out front. He was riding really, really aggressively on that two-smoke and looked good. The 2nd has to be Jason Raines who finished the day in 5th-place overall, not too shabby for a “retired” team manager! There are a lot of full-time pro guys that should be glad Raines has decided on a new career path and isn’t consistently lining up in the pro class at national events.
Cory Buttrick had a rough day, running out of gas after running up front on only the second lap. We’re not sure what happened as he was running an oversized tank on his KTM 250 (or 300?) XC two-stroke. I’m guessing the floats were stuck or something; because there’s no reason he shouldn’t have made it that long.
Kanney made his Honda racing debut last weekend.
As I’ve mentioned a few times, Charlie Mullins is indeed on the new 2012 “Dungey Edition” KTM 450 SX-F which is a pretty much completely redesigned machine. At first glance you might not notice that it is in fact the new bike, as Mullins is still running older versions of plastic as there currently isn’t enough in the country for both Dungey and Mullins to run it. Charlie told me that on his 20-minute practice loop in Florida he is 40-seconds a lap faster than on his 2011 machine which isn’t a good thing for his competition.
The National Enduro pro field will be absolutely stacked this coming weekend, here’s a list of pro riders we know are racing:
FMF/KTM
Bobbitt, Mullins, Buttrick
Husaberg
Lafferty, Fahringer
AmPro Yamaha
Ashburn
Obermeyer / Raines / Offroadviking.com
Bakken, Haines
Beta
Bach
FAR Husqvarna
DeLong, Thomas
Honda
DuVall, Kanney
Other riders
Baylor, McRee, Hufford, Klamfoth, Williams
Who do you think will be the top-5 overall? Let us know on the forum: http://www.digitaloffroad.net/index.php/topic/22-sumter-enduro-race-picks/
One rider we haven’t mentioned much about lately is Shenandoah Honda’s Thad DuVall who will be making his Honda debut this coming weekend. After seeing Thad on a Yamaha for about a decade it will definitely take some getting used to seeing the 989 on a red bike. Thad has been doing a lot of Tweeting lately with updates on his program and he posted some photos of his new Troy Lee Designs Steve McQueen gear that he’ll be rocking and it’s some definitely sweet stuff! He’s also made the switch to Sidi boots and with a ton of new gear and new bike, Thad will be looking fresh at Sumter. DuVall is definitely a darkhorse rider coming into the event as he finished in the top-5 a few times and ended up with 2 podiums in last years National Enduro Series.
I’ll be doing my best to Live Tweet the National Enduro, so definitely check us out on Twitter all weekend to keep up to date.
That’s pretty much it for me this week. If you’re out at Sumter be sure to say hey!
Ashburn could be a podium threat this weekend at Sumter.
Thanks Hoop! Im actually going to keep it semi-short this week (mostly because I’m writing this via iPhone) so lets jump right in and get things going.
You’ve already heard all about last weekend’s National Hare Scramble. The race served as a pretty good preview of the 2012 season as most of the top GNCC guys showed up to battle it out. It was definitely a great race and the general consensus amongst everyone was that the track itself was pretty awesome. I know I was jonesing to race but even just watching the guys absolutely destroy it in the sand was a good time.
By the way, if you want to check out more race photos, check out the Burnt Gin gallery at www.constantphotos.com to see some photos shot by Katie Norton. She snagged some really awesome corner shots starting around page 12 of that gallery, then more towards the end. Katie is a former multi-time SETRA Women’s champion and while she’s taken the Bolt-On route of spending more time behind a camera lens or the keyboard writing SETRA race reports for Trail Rider Magazine, she still rolls.
LeeAnn Bange took the win in the Women's class.
This weekend the National Enduro Series kicks back off and it’s promising to be another stacked season. Charlie Mullins will be looking to regain his title while Russell Bobbitt will be defending his. They will have some competition though coming in the form of more than a few riders. You can’t forget how well Nick Fahringer was riding at the end of 2011, and although he spent the winter off the bike with a knee injury, I think he will be back strong. Mike Lafferty put in an excellent ride at the Broxton Bridge Enduro showing that he still has some definite speed, but Brad Bakken stayed pretty close to him. It should be a good race to watch unfold this weekend.
Well, I’m going to cut it short here and get ready for a great race this weekend at Sumter. I will leave you with this Rodney Tomblin Compilation video I threw together… Enjoy.
Until next time, Bolt-On out.
