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Extreme Enduro, Extreme Fun!
Cory Gabbert Styles His Way to 2nd Place 30+!
While living in the Rocky Mountains definitely has it’s rewards, like the most awesome trails to explore, long summer days and a great Enduro Series, it can definitely be a bit of a bummer in that window of time called winter if riding a dirt bike is your primary form of entertainment. Particularly this season, a winter commonly described by natives and long timers as “the way it used to be 20 years ago!” . All I know about this year is that it snows every weekend, all known trails are frozen, and cabin fever is taking hold!
Enter Jerry Burdick and the MX4Fun crew. It seems Jerry and his crew put on this neat little event in South Dakota each year about this time called “Extreme Enduro"--an indoor arena event with man-made obstacles simulating off-road challenges that you might find in any enduro or trail ride, only all packed tightly together with obstacles appearing hard and fast! As an added bonus you get to “perform” in front of a loud, vocal, Budweiser fueled crowd seeking carnage and destruction.
Who needs a new bike? Brian Lehfeldt rode this '85 Husky to 7th
250, out of 20 entries!
A quick lap around the track would had us first tackle an 18" tall double log step-up over and onto a pointy ended parallel log section, but not too fast--because just as the front wheel get on top, there is a cross mounted log there to greet it. Better find a way to get the front wheel high and over that baby while the rear is clawing for bark traction. Ok, front wheel over, here comes the rear, boom, it kicks up and over, focus on riding the groove between the unevenly sized logs--good we're out.
Twenty feet down the trail and we hit obstacle two. Three sets of three parallel log lanes with two "pit" sections strewn with miscellaneous rocks and firewood. Don't really have to slow too much through here, just a matter of picking a lane, how fast can you ride along the top of logs?
Another twenty feet or so, and we met the first of two 12"+ log crossings. Accelerate up to the first, brake hard, unload the front end and a little clutch will get the front wheel on the top edge. A little more throttle to lift the front again as the rear wheel contacts the log, and boom we're over just like that. We needto maintain composure though, because the next one is right here and you have do it again. Follow that up with an angled Rail Road crossing in a tight right hander and we're down the first straight, and immediately onto perhaps the most challenging section of the course.
Look Easy?
Picture a steep, ten foot tall Supercross jump face, then place a series of logs on the top half, not smoothly integrated, but sitting on top of the jump so that you have to lift your front wheel up onto them while traveling up the face, then un-weight the rear as you scramble for traction on the loose bark. Also picture that the run-up is fairly short, say about a bike length, because you just crossed a log and some TV sized rocks to get here, and you've entered carnage central, the most popular place for riders to crash as a group!
Good news is, after conquering that, you've got about forty feet of straightaway and a flat right hander in which to catch a break...a good 2-3 seconds anyway, before the Enduro equivalent of the Whoop section: the Log Jam! Running about fifty feet long, the "jam" featured ten logs, laid at an angle across the trail..err, track, and secured at the ends. What this creates is two fast lanes at the outside edges, where the logs are close. Keep your speed up, ride them like speed bumps...you're good. Get off track and into the middle though and you'll never have both your wheels where you want them at the same time.
A hard left, over another rock pile, up another embankment and another 2 seconds of rest before a hard right onto the log step-up. Craftily designed, the entry features a three log high step, up to a flat, just about exactly wheelbase long, before meeting another two log high step. The trick here is to get onto the flat cleanly, cause you're going to need to get that front wheel up on top of the next step right now!
Once cleared, it's an easy trip through the mogul field and over the bridge, where a spirited twist of throttle across the top will allow you to forego the exit ramp, dropping fifteen feet down onto the flat arena floor.
Kris Brunson Exits "The Forest"
Usually you can't see the forest for the trees, but this time around, you can't see the forest because of the fifteen foot tall vertical wall in front of it. But, conquer we must, and an aggressive bit of throttle at the bottom will have you teetering on top, where the forest is clearly in view, directly at the bottom. A slew of 4" thick saplings, securely anchored four feet deep into the ground and cunningly spaced about 28" apart (your bars are probably about 31"!). You enter the section, sliding down the backside of the steep embankment, aiming for one of the two wider openings, while carefully positioning your barkbusters so as to slam the entrance trees equally with both ends, so as to enter the section with a semblance of control. Otherwise you likely will find yourself awkwardly wedged between bike and tree, a line of racers backing up behind you. Fifty feet of bar twisting and branch-face slapping later and you're back into the first corner and ready to go again.
Not so bad in itself, but at speed, well it's the equivalent of bench pressing 200lbs. as fast as you can, and if you miss a rep, someone kicks you over and drops the weights on you. Add a bunch of go-fast guys (and one really tough girl!) and you've got more than just a race, you've got the most action packed two-wheeled misadventure this side of the Pastrana compound!
RMEC was well represented with quality, if not quantity, with the likes of Scott Bright, Bryan Penny, Mart Geary, Mike Diesburg, Mike Harvey and Kris Brunson among others.
After a series of afternoon "qualifiers" used to determine starting position, the night show got under way with the over 40 class hitting the track first. Mart Geary was first off the line from the dead engine, straddle your front wheel with your knees format and rocketed into turn one with a lead he would never relinquish. Fellow local rider Al Hermansen managed to light his four-stroke Honda quicker than the remaining field of two-strokes to follow Geary into turn one. They would remain in those positions to the finish, with RMEC rider Perry Bicek overcoming an early tip-over to work his way into third at the finish.
Bright (24) and Penney (929) out front in the 30+ Class
The Vet 30+ Class ran next, with Penny, who looked awful quick in his qualifier win and Bright who was also looking sharp matched up with Diesburg, Harvey and Brunson in an RMEC packed main. It was Bright off first, using the electric starter on his KTM 450SX to perfect advantage, followed closely by local rider Ryan McFarland. Bright held on for a lap, but McFarland would work his way to the lead on lap two. Bright, frustrated begins pressing from the second position, but, on a track that rewards smoothness and punishes mistakes, his aggressiveness was rewarded with a steady move backwards in the pack as small miscues turned to crashes. He would eventually crash out of contention. Meanwhile, recovering from a mediocre start, Penney was working his way forward, calculatingly picking off a rider at a time and ultimately finishing third behind Cory Gabbert from North Dakota.
Mike Diesburg Topped the 200's!
In a race chock full of carnage and destruction, local KTM rider Chris Hlucny and YZ125 mounted Mike Diesburg would get a breakaway lead and do battle the whole distance. Hlucny would maintain the point throughout, but finally, the relentless pressure from Diesburg would be too much, a Hlucny error was all that Diesburg needed for a last lap pass for the win.
In his second event of the night, Penney jammed his KTM300 into the Open Class lead out of the gate. It was not without pressure though as North Dakota's Steve Drewlo was right on his tailpipe pressuring him through each obstacle. Brunson initially held down third before first surrendering the position to Curt Pizak, then Minnesota's Brian Grote. Penney and Drewlo would continue battle out front, Penney holding the advantage and position until the final lap when a thrown chain would end his race and allow Drewlo by for the win. Brunson would fall back to sixth, stating afterwards "my bike kept getting harder to steer and I couldn't figure it out, I thought man I'm getting tired". Turns out the repeated contact between his chest protector and his GPS steering damper were tightening up his settings. "No wonder, it was turned all the way up to 8!" proclaimed Brunson afterward.
Mart Geary won the +40's and finished 3rd in Pro!
Geary and Penney would go on to race the 23 rider Pro event and while Geary would move up from a mid-pack start to finish third, Penney exhausted from his previous races, would move backwards from third, surviving a couple of tip-overs to manage a sixth in the main. Penney noted afterward that three races was just too much, "I went into survival mode out there that last race, next year I'm just doing two."
Ever Race A "Rhino"?
Link to More Pictures!
Link to Bryan Penney's Helmet Cam!
Extreme Enduro Results:
40+: 1. Mart Geary (KTM); 2. Al Hermansen (Hon); 3. Perry Bicek (Kaw); 4. George Pennington (KTM); 5. Ross Rhode (Yam)
30+: 1. Ryan McFarland (Yam); 2. Cory Gabbert (KTM); 3. Bryan Penney (KTM); 4. Chris Farrar
Minis: 1. Donovan Lindsey (Hon); 2. Shad Dahlquist (Kaw); 3. Dale Madsen (Yam); 4. Cory Blanks (Hon); 5. Tyler Pennington (Yam)
250: 1.Chris Farrar (Yam); 2. Dustin McCoombs (Yam); 3. Brandon Gabbert (KTM); 4. Reilly Ludwig (Yam); 5. Mike Hansen (Yam)
Open: 1. Steve Drewlo (KTM); 2. Curt Pizak (KTM); 3. Brian Fortman (KTM); 4. David Larson (Yam); 5. Brian Grote (KTM)
200: 1. Mike Diesburg (Yam); 2. Chris Hlucny (KTM); 3. Jake Heyden (KTM); 4. Aaron Eagle (Yam); 5. Kenny Guy (Yam)
Pro: 1. Steve Drewlo (KTM); 2. Kyle Barry (Yam); 3. Mart Geary (KTM); 4. Dustin Peterson (Yam); 5. Reilly Ludwig (Yam)