THE WEEKLY FEED: SUPERBOWL OF MOTO • HARD ENDURO CHAOS • RALLY RAID UPDATE

BLAST FROM THE PAST: JIMMY ELLIS

Jimmy Ellis was flying high on his factory Can-Am at the 1976 LA Super Bowl of Motocross. He took the win in the premier 250 class ahead of Tony D and Pierre Karsmakers. Jimmy Weinert went on to win the SX title. Another sweet pic from Mark Kiel.

RACING

WESS HARD ENDURO NEARLY SHUT DOWN FROM COVID HOT SPOT

Originally scheduled to include an Endurocross, Prologue, and hard enduro Main Race, the 2021 edition of Extreme XL Lagares had to be cut down considerably at the 11th hour when a regional Covid hot spot forced Portugal’s General Health Directorate to restrict sporting events to run ‘behind closed doors’. As such, organizers were forced to put on a heavily restricted race using only the Endurocross track. Although full championship points were initially going to be awarded, horrendous conditions resulted in a unanimous decision by the FIM and championship promotors to run the event without points. Husqvarna’s Billy Bolt won the cloistered off-road event that was slammed by a major storm. Manny Lettenbichler took second and Graham Jarvis took the final podium position.

It’s been an eventful start to the season, but to get a win here in Portugal is still a good feeling. I felt ready for the original format of Extreme XL Lagares – I’d put in the ground work and wanted a good result. But after the news late on Thursday that the format was changing, I just wanted to make the best of the situation we were all in.”

Graham Jarvis: “I think I surprised myself and a few others with third overall today – not bad for an old guy! To be honest I wasn’t expecting too much with the change to Endurocross only but wanted to test my fitness during those long races. My winter prep seems to be good and I felt strong all day. I’d love to have got into the mountains here, but it is what it is – hats off to the organisers for making something happen.”

This past weekend should have marked the opening of the Hard Enduro World Championship season. Unfortunately, a last-minute government decision disrupted the event! The club went out of their way to try to come up with an alternative, but the result was far from the originally planned race, it was decided that the race would not count towards the championship. The riders therefore had to race on a SuperEnduro track competing in three 20-minute heats.

New GasGas pilot Taddy Blazusiak returned to racing after his lengthy winter lay-off following shoulder surgery. Not fazed by the extremely wet and tough conditions, the Polish hard enduro legend made a great start to the day by completing the first of three pro class finals in second place. Pushing hard on his EC 300 in the second heat, Taddy twisted a knee on one of the many obstacles. Despite initially choosing to continue, he decided to withdraw from the event so as not to risk any further injury.

Extreme XL Lagares Overall Result

1. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 57pts, 2. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 45pts; 3. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 39pts; 4. Wade Young (Sherco) 37pts; 5. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna) 35pts; 6. Dominik Olszowy (KTM) 31pts; 7. Teodor Kabakchiev (Husqvarna) 28pts; 8. Mario Roman (Sherco) 26pts; 9. Taddy Blazusiak (GASGAS) 17pts; 10. Kevin Gallas (GASGAS) 15pts

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SONORA RALLY UPDATE

photos Justin Coffey

Ricky Brabec dominated Stage 2 at the Sonora Rally

After a Stage 1 upset where Mason Klein [#6] took the win ahead of rally raid stars Skyler Howes [#2, Rockstar Husqvarna], Andrew Short [#3, Monster Energy Yamaha], Ignacio “Nacho” Cornejo [#4, Monster Energy Honda] and Ricky Brabec [#1, Monster Energy Honda], Brabec turned on the heat. Stage one ended poorly for most and was shortened considerably.

Yamaha’s Andrew Short finished second on his factory machine.

Both factory pros Andrew Short [#3] with Monster Energy Yamaha and Skyler Howes [#2] newly with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna commented on Ricky’s pace, never seeing him move that fast before. He soared past not only Klein, but HRC teammate Jose Cornejo [#4], Short and eventually Howes, who was leading the stage for a bit. They rode in a single file line, ascending and descending in unison, for the remaining leg of the racecourse.

In Brabec’s words

“The day was good. After a ton of frustration from yesterday’s cancellation of the stage, anger was built up and resulted in a day of burning fuel. Started a little ways back so had some solid tracks to judge the navigation off of and it was possibly the only day I would have to make some time. That being said, we had a good push, only making a small mistake early on with a note in the roadbook not built properly (in my opinion). It was missing one small but very important feature. Once we shot through there, I was on the gas to the end. Hoping to get into some more technical dunes these next few days and with three days left anything can happen and a lot can change so fingers crossed we hit our navigation marks to the T these next days”.

Mason Klein was the Stage 1 winner, he finished 6th on the second stage.

1. #1 Ricky Brabec, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA

2. #3 Andrew Short, MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA

3. #2 Skyler Howes, ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA

4. #4 Jose Ignacio Cornejo, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA

5. #12 Kendall Norman, JCR HONDA

6. #6 Mason Klein, Pro

7. #10 Justin Morgan, SLR Honda & San Diego Powersport

8. #5 Wes VanNieuwenhuise, ROTTWEILER PERFORMANCE

9. #20 Ray Dal Soglio, Pro

10. #9 Scott Bright, Pro

NEWS

SOCIAL DISTANCING

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The Fantman is our video man here at DB. He also twists it like the Hulk!

VIDEO JUKEBOX

GEAR BAG

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Leatt.com

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WOLF: BACK IN THE DAY

This I’m testing a modified KX250 at one of my favorite tracks, LA County Raceway, circa 1992. This machine was modified by Noleen Racing, Clark Jones (former racer and owner) being a good friend and he made some seriously fast machines!