Posts
6438
Joined
10/16/2014
Location
Buda, TX
US
Edited Date/Time
9/6/2018 3:03pm
Steve Holcombe 1-1
Brad Freeman 2-2 (1-1 in E1)
Matteo Cavallo 1-1 (his time would have placed him 3rd in GP's, but he is a Junior)
The Beta 2t is on fire, Holcombe rides the most stock bike in the field, and Freeman and Cavallo run Boano special "works" models. A "virtual" podium sweep in their home GP is a great job.
2017 Champ and leading The GP and E3 (300 & up) with 2 rounds left, Steve Holcombe
2017 Junior Champ and leading E1 (250) and 3rd in GP, Brad Freeman
Junior points leader Matteo Cavallo
https://enduro21.com/index.php/endurogp/3522-turning-point-for-2018-end…
Brad Freeman 2-2 (1-1 in E1)
Matteo Cavallo 1-1 (his time would have placed him 3rd in GP's, but he is a Junior)
The Beta 2t is on fire, Holcombe rides the most stock bike in the field, and Freeman and Cavallo run Boano special "works" models. A "virtual" podium sweep in their home GP is a great job.
2017 Champ and leading The GP and E3 (300 & up) with 2 rounds left, Steve Holcombe
2017 Junior Champ and leading E1 (250) and 3rd in GP, Brad Freeman
Junior points leader Matteo Cavallo
https://enduro21.com/index.php/endurogp/3522-turning-point-for-2018-end…
off road is stomping in participation and sales...
Even KTM/Husky have pulled out of this series with a legitimate World Championship history with FIM going back decades and started their own pirate series with Red Bull money. They can do it here, where team Austria's legacy and roots began, why not MX/SX?
It's tough competition and can be grueling on bikes. Last weekend Larrieu's Yamaha lost its chain twice, and Husky's Salvini (who is having a fantastic year) DNF's day 1 with "water in the petrol".
The silence on this thread could mean that a lot of fan boys don't like their brand getting beat either.
The Shop
you guys checking sales of mx vs off rd bikes?
yeah sure in racing terms mx is better to watch but i stil watch and follow off rd stuff.
and more than that i ride ALOT, for my age, so does a buddy whos nearly 60, both ex a grade mxers, and we ride 90 % off rd and so does nearly everyone here
42 yrs riding anyone match that?
just cause you are limited dont appraise others as the same.
The fact that events like GNCC and J-Day and others pull crowds at multiple events that are seldom equaled by any MX amateur series (other than LL's) is a reflection on people speaking with their wallets. I don't have current figures, but there appears to be twice as many off road models sold as pure MX bikes, and underneath they are essentially the same thing. There certainly is a "racial" aspect to our sport towards those with kickstands and bark busters or ride a 4 wheeler, and as small as this sport is it's a shame more can't accept the others for the economic good of the "sport".
As far as Beta goes, they had a good weekend and deserve accolades for it. Are they cherry picking a dead series? Anyone who wants to can go line up against them, and after 13 years of KTM being dominant in the 300 2t class and Beta winning the last 2 years and soon to be 3, it could certainly be assumed that they tucked their tail and ran. They have a team entered in virtually every kind of racing on 2 wheels you can imagine, yet they abandon their roots? Beta is a modern day David vs. Goliath, and that makes for a good story.
Have you seen what the turnout is for off road racing like GNCC, Sprint Enduro, etc?? Woods racing is alive and well.
Have you seen what the turnout is on the gates at your local moto races?? Local moto racing is a shell of what it used to be..
And it was a blast. Bikes are a bit smaller than the rest and a little bit down on power on KTM/Husky.
But the handling and suspension was really great.
There is offroad, and then there is FIM EnduroGP. It's pretty easy to see where the major money is being spent in offroad in the US and the World and it's not in the Enduro series.
If you are in East TX, you probably know YHGeorge, or PineyWoods, or Irish Coffee, the legendary lurker from TT?
He's signed up to go to the Beta Demo in Ft. Worth later this year, I may finally meet him.
AFAIK it's still Ronnie Jones at Big Country (see the flyer above) I pm'ed him last week. The shop in Austin, which was never a motorcycle shop, just a bicycle shop with some owners that had interest in Beta's, seems to have dropped off the dealer list.
As you probably know, everyone gives "Irish" the business for all his commenting and "seemingly" never riding, I can now confirm he's for real! His comments are too intelligent for anything else other than a lifelong gearhead.
Pit Row
Holocombe is on a league of his own, unreal on the rain!
https://enduro21.com/index.php/usa/3526-ryan-sipes-back-on-the-gas-with…
"Ryan Sipes returned to action in the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series, winning seven tight tests on route to his fifth overall victory of 2018 at the Big Buck Sprint Enduro in Union, South Carolina.
The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna-rider won all six Cross tests, plus the first Enduro test of the weekend, which is a rare feat for Sipes in this company and for a rider who is more at home on the faster tests.
“The track was dusty at the start of the day on Saturday so I knew if I won the first Cross test it would make me the first rider out on the course for that first Enduro test, which gave me a big edge,” admitted Sipes."
Beta's Jordan Ashburn, 2nd in last year's series, finished 6th on the only non Austrian bike in the top 10.
Too bad Holcombe can't race Hawkstone again and try his hand against the WESS riders, I don't think any of those technical specialists could best him there.
"Is that part of the reason you decided to run the Fast Eddy XC at Hawkstone Park as a WESS event this year?
“Partly yes, the EnduroGP we ran last year was a great success – we had some amazing racing and it was great to see some of the world’s top riders in the UK. Unfortunately, the costs involved and some restrictions meant that is was unfeasible for a lot of the locals to even consider riding. Running the 2018 race as a WESS round has meant we have been able to open up the weekend to far more – amateurs and championship riders alike. This year we are hoping to see 500 riders compete over the two days with 250 lining up at the start of the main event – last year we were lucky if there were 50.”
EnduroGP is trying new things too, and has become more of a timed Sprint concept.
https://enduro21.com/index.php/endurogp/3505-superenduro-mixed-with-str…
They left for a series with FAR superior press coverage and that is heavily promoted by one of their biggest and long time sponsors.
World Enduros are a shell of what they used to be. Good for Beta and Holcombe, he's a stud for sure, but a World Enduro win or podium does not carry near the prestige it did 8-10-15 years ago.
KTM has been having their helmet polished for almost 20 years about the "best 2stroke" or "best dirt bike" and I'd mostly agree. That tide has turned, since their new chassis and 2t engine was released their once unbeatable platform has struggled for wins and to even podium at year end. It might be a coincidence.. but when your best selling model struggles to contend, you might choose to move to a series where you can.
With the budget of team Austria, competing in dozens of off road series around the world, to walk away from the only FIM World Championship series seems out of character. Maybe it is a riff with the promoters, but that is a strange way to handle it.
I'm not even sure how to respond to that and I'm not even close to a KTM fan boy.
Each and ever person demands and prefers some thing different in a bike. I do believe the bigger a manfactuer becomes the more “refined” the bikes design becomes. It’s just natural progression. Beta’s motors are amazing and the chassis is up there in balance with the best of them. Can not comment on Sherco.
Ghost
I'll take my dialed in YZ 250 over any of the other 2 stroke options out there.
I can't comment on the 4 stroke Betas but aren't they quite heavy as well?
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