THE WEEKLY FEED: MONTANA HARD ENDURO • SOCIAL POKES • UP COMING RIDES

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Wheelie into Wednesday with Danny LaPorte at the 1977 Super Bowl of Motocross

NEWS

Interested in racing? https://americanretrocross.org/rules-and-class-structure/

2022 KLIM Cow Tag Off-Road Ride | June 25

Join KLIM in supporting Off-Road Trail Advocacy Groups and ride a fun, one-of-a-kind event in KLIM’s Test Lab – the pristine mountain single-track of Idaho. To celebrate the summer riding season, and to support off-road recreation and the advocacy groups keeping these fantastic trails open, KLIM is inviting riders to participate in the popular Cow Tag event set in their own backyard – the robust mountain trail system in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest of Southeast Idaho.

This exciting event takes riders on some of KLIM’s favorite local trails, guided by maps and GPS tracks, in search of unique numbered Cow Tags. Riders will be challenged to collect as many – or the most difficult – Cow Tags as possible to earn valuable raffle tickets. Those tickets will be used to enter prize drawings at the end of the event.

To register for the Cow Tag, view the schedule and for more information on event guidelines, nearby hotels, campgrounds and activities, visit https://www.klim.com/cow-tag-off-road-ride.

Here’s how it works:

When:

Friday, June 24, 2022 Check in 1:00pm – 7:00pm
Saturday, June 25, 2022 Late Check in at Kelly Canyon 7:30am – 8:30am
Saturday, June 25, 2022 Ride 9:00am – 5:00pm

HARD ENDURO NASTINESS

BENTONITE BRAWL HARD ENDURO

The 2022 AMA U.S. Hard Enduro Series took on a new location in Billings, Montana over the weekend, where FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Trystan Hart raced his way to victory after more than two and a half hours of tough battle. Known as the motorcycle hill climbing capital of the world, the Billings Motorcycle Club showcased a grueling 30-mile course, with an intense mixture of uphill and downhills mixed in. Kicking off the race weekend with a hill climb prologue on Saturday, Hart topped the field with P1 qualifying heading into Sunday’s racing.

Trystan Hart: “It was a rough day for me honestly. There was a lot of carnage! The promoters put a real hard enduro on this weekend. Colton was riding really good, too, so that made it hard on me, but it was good riding with him.”

The defending Hard Enduro champion battled back-and-forth with Colton Haaker for the early lead. Racing one lap around the 30-mile loop, the two riders swapped the lead position several times throughout the first two hours as they took turns successfully navigating each part of the course. Hart nailed a tricky mudhole late in the race that would ultimately prove the undoing for Haaker. The mud hole swallowed Colton and it took 10 minutes of intense maneuvering to free the machine. In the process he broke the subframe and lost his muffler. The multi-time enduro champion made his best efforts to salvage the remainder of the race, ultimately finishing sixth overall on the day.

COLTON HAAKER: “Happy with my riding not with the result. Sorry to the course worker for being snarky when stuck to my waist in brown play doh. One of them said the line looks good over here and I responded with “ya? You wanna ride it?”

“That was way more gnarly than it seemed in photos or video!” Exclaimed a jubilated Cooper Abbott.

Cooper Abbott would have his best ever finish in a US Hard Enduro race with a runner up placement. Montana native, and 7x King of Kings snow climb (snowmobiles) champion, Keith Curtis was battling for a podium position all day. He ultimately settled for solid P5 after not cleaning the “hill of doom” which was three climbs from the finish. Abbott moved up late in the race passing them on one of the big climbs. He battled with Cory Graffunder to the end, barely edging Cory out for second. Graffunder, HQV mounted finished third overall.

At the 3rd to last hill, Keith Curtis was holding P2, but he failed to clean the hill and his Sherco came tumbling down the course. By the time he retrieved it, and made it up the climb, three riders had gone past including Abbott, Graffunder and Ryder LeBlond.

Louise Forsley had a strong start through the EnduroCross course and onto the first climbs. She built up a good gap back on Morgan Tanke and Sherco rider Hallie Marks. Unfortunately for Louise, she had a bad get off jumping a “coulee” and broke her wrist. She will be out for 6 weeks. Louise made it farther than all the Women’s Pro class and took home top honors.

Louise Forsley’s crash ended her day with a broken wrist. She still won the Women’s division as she had amassed the furthest distance on the course before the cutoff time.

SOCIAL DISTORTION

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Rummaging around the DB Photo vault we found this excellent shot of Thad Duvall back in 2016. Kinney Jones snapped the pic.

GEAR BAG

Every motorcycle rider is unique. This is why Pro Circuit has created an exclusive lineup of Replacement Exhaust Sticker Kits to fit each unique rider. Available colors include Dark Blue, Gray, Green, Light Blue, Orange, Red, and a special American Flag design featured by Pro Circuit factory riders at Red Bud MX. It’s time to take your exhaust to the next level.

Replacement Sticker Kits are available for the Ti-6 Pro/Ti-6 exhaust models, as well as then the T-6/T-6 Slip-On models and Mini.

procircuit.com

VINTAGE DIRT BIKE

WOLF: BACK IN THE DAY

Our front yard back in 1973. The Yamaha DT3 250 I bought (actually my wife to be in two years- Roost- bought for me since I had zero dollars) and I traded it for brother Mike’s ’72 CZ250. Why? He had less money than I and couldn’t afford the upkeep. About two months after the trade, fourth and fifth gear blew up in the Yamaha, and were back ordered. Mike fit on a three teeth larger countershaft sprocket and raced it for most of the year as a 3-speed!