Battleborn Moto Fest Hard Enduro and Hillclimb Footage

JM485
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Davis, CA US
6/10/2017 8:00pm Edited Date/Time 6/12/2017 9:54am
Last weekend I raced an event my buddy put on called the Battleborn Moto Fest out at Wild West Motorsports park in Reno NV. Some of you might have seen us promoting the event up on vendor row at the top of the hill at Hangtown, where we had an Open class bike on display. The event was a hillclimb on Saturday, and a hard enduro on Sunday, with an overall bonus of $500 going to the best overall finisher in the factory 450 verticross and pro hard enduro. Here's a quick recap of how the event went for me:

On Saturday we started off with factory 450 verticross qualifying. I was super excited to find out Kyle Redmond was showing up and racing verticross and the hard enduro to go for that $500 bonus, and it kind of got everyong fired up having such a big name show up. Factory 450 verticross is a stock length class, and I ended up qualifying 4th, which was alright but not what I was hoping for. After qualifying, we went right into the 0-700cc class, which is an extended length class. After multiple timing light malfunctions (it happens, especially in a dusty environment), I took over the lead on my final run with only one rider left to go. I ended up getting beat by about .060 seconds, which sucked but I was really happy with my run and it's always awesome when the racing is that close. What's not so awesome is first place pays $750, and second pays $500, so I lost out on $250 over less than 1/10 of a second.Pinch

The final event for Saturday was the actual factory 450 verticross races. I forgot to turn my gopro on for my first race, but I pulled the holeshot and won. Second race was against Kyle Redmond, and oh man did we have an epic battle! I got a little bit of a holeshot on him, but he had the inside line, so I did my best to power around the outside and not give him the opportunity to push me wide. We ended up dead even going over the top of the first crest, and were neck and neck coming up to the step up. As you'll see in the video, I almost went over the bars in a big way during my qualifying run trying to jump the step-up since there was almost no lip, so I checked up just like everyone else had up until that point. Well, Kyle sent it and just made it over the top, pulling a lead and taking the win. It was so crazy to line up with him and actually give him a little bit of a race though, I was happy just to make it a little bit interesting. The last wall jump at the end only had one good line through it that was basically over vert, so you can see when happened when he had that line covered and I had to try another one to the left. He went on to win his next race and take home 1st. My final race was for 3rd place, and I pulled the holeshot from the outside and took the win. Felt good to get up on the podium and I thought I rode really well.

Here is the gopro footage from Saturday's hillclimb:




Sunday was the hard enduro, and oh boy did it live up to its name.Evil We started dead engine, and the very first real section we went through was this insane rock garden, which wouldn't have been all that terrible on flat ground, but going uphill through it was just miserable. I knew I needed to get to that first section near the front of the pack to avoid a massive road block of bikes and bodies, so luckily when the flag waved I was able to fire the bike up right away and pull out in front. It was again pretty surreal to be drag racing down the straightaway against Kyle, and at least I can say I was in first for approximately 30 seconds before he absolutely left everyone in the dust through the rocks.Laughing Believe me when I saw, I have absolutely no business being on the same course as someone of his caliber, but this event was really unique in that it let redgular guys like me get a chance to see where we stack up and give this type of racing a shot. You can see all the footage of me struggling through the course in the video below, it was no joke and that dry dirt combined with very loose rock on top made for some seriously tricky conditions. Ironically the little endurocross section at the end of the lap was the easiest part of the race, go figure that. . .Blink

In the end, I made it 2 1/2 laps into the race before my chain guide sheered off my springarm and ended my run. I was on track to finish 4th, possibly 3rd depending on how my last lap would have gone. The race was an hour and a half, and I would have pretty easily finished my third lap and started my fourth before time ran out, which would have given me a score of four laps. To put into perspective how good Kyle is, damn guy did 12, yes, 12 fricking laps in the amount of time it would have taken me to do 4! Just ridiculous, I still don't understand how those guys make things look so easy, it's unreal. Here is footage of the race, enjoy at my expense. . .



A few photos from the event, I'm seriously stoked on these so bear with me. . .



















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j100
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2006
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10/4/2007
Location
Newport Beach, CA US
6/10/2017 9:36pm
good job buddy.

we ride that kinda stuff every week. it's a blast.
Ted722
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Sacramento, CA US
6/10/2017 9:51pm
I could hear the clutch plates crying uncle! Shocked Other than a few rocks, it looked great out there. Whistling Good job on the weekend and nice variety of bikes and events you rode.
NV825
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1971
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8/26/2006
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Carson City, NV US
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2711th
6/10/2017 10:17pm
I got arm pump just watching your video of the hard enduro Pinch damn that was brutal.
jeffro503
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27442
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7/22/2007
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St Helens, OR US
6/11/2017 12:01am
You're a damn stud Josh! I've been strictly moto for the past 30 years , so a lot of the stuff you do is alien to me. But gawd dang I can appreciate it! Keep roosting brother.

The Shop

JM485
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Davis, CA US
6/11/2017 7:49pm
j100 wrote:
good job buddy.

we ride that kinda stuff every week. it's a blast.
Good stuff, you're a greater man than I if you can handle that stuff week in and week out, it's no joke! I'm so pissed about my damn chain guide though, I was really getting a rhythm going when it broke off.Sad
JM485
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6/11/2017 7:54pm
Ted, thanks, much appreciated. I don't want to hear any bs from the moto guys about "getting used to the bike", we just do a run, hope on the next bike, and do another one!Laughing (I'm joking, for the overly sensitive)

NV825, the rocks might as well be a stress concentration point for arm pump, I don't care who you are your arms are going to be done after climbing through that stuff.

Jeff, break the rope to the truck, the woods are calling!Grinning Seriously though, I'd get so bored just spinning laps every weekend, by the time summer is over here I've about had it with track riding. I think changing it up and riding slow, technical stuff is a great change of pace that helps keep burnout away.
ledger
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3673
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TN US
6/11/2017 8:51pm
Dayum, that looks to be a lot of fun, and give's hillclimbing a new twist.
RhinoRider
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Livermore, CA US
6/11/2017 10:22pm
Went slogging in the mud, snow, rain and running creeks today.
Snowing pretty good for most the time.

JM485
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Davis, CA US
6/12/2017 7:36am
RhinoRider wrote:
Went slogging in the mud, snow, rain and running creeks today. Snowing pretty good for most the time. [img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB_a0zoUMAEA84A.jpg[/img]
Went slogging in the mud, snow, rain and running creeks today.
Snowing pretty good for most the time.

Man did we get lucky it was last weekend! I couldn't believe how much rain we got yesterday, it was dumping rain here for a solid hour or two pretty much out of nowhere, thunder and everything. Pretty weird to have a random storm like that around here, but snow in the mountains would have really put a damper on things. I need to get up north again to do some mountain riding, it's been way too long and I'm not ready to burn laps in the 90+ degree heat yet.
Micahdogg
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1267
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1/3/2011
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US
6/12/2017 7:56am
I've never heard of verticross....that is so cool. Not much to it, short and sweet races, competitive, fun! Nice work.
Johnny Depp
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6438
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Buda, TX US
6/12/2017 9:31am Edited Date/Time 6/12/2017 9:55am
Great job and nice ride report! That looked like a really fun event!

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