June 7-8The week after Kentucky GNCC, we had a full schedule trying to prepare everything for the 7th annual 24 hour challenge located in Maplesville, Al. At first, on paper it looked as though it would be an easy preparation but in reality it was a lot of work! We took my practice bike I have been riding since January and did a major overhaul on it from the ground up, and we had already tested our night lighting from Trail Tech so that was one less hurdle to get over. After spending all week working on the bike and loading up all the extras that we thought we would be needing we started our 7 hour trek towards Alabama.Our team was very strong and consisted of Randy Hawkins, Thad Duvall, Dustin Gibson, Joe Scherer and myself. We did some pre-track inspection on Friday morning and later that night Thad, Joe and Dustin did some riding in the Alabama moonlight to get used to the bike set-up and the lighting.The race got under way at 10:00am and I was the one who started. I got off to a 3rd place start and I posted the fastest time of the entire 24 hour on the second lap! The track started out about perfect because we got some much needed rain the night before, but let me tell you, after 24 hours of racing (I rode the last lap of the race) it was rough and silty.As the race wore on we took turns every two laps, trying to keep the riders fresh and able to charge. It was very hot and humid so 2 laps each was about right to keep fresh and motivated.Pretty much the entire race it was between our team and the KTM team of Nathan Kanney, Russell Bobbitt, Corey Butrick, Jason Chancey, Michael Gravit and Michael Grizzle. We swapped back and forth so many times during the race, it was exciting. We would pull a gap and then they would reel us in and get into the lead and then it was us making up the time on them. It went on like this until about 6:00 am. We had four hours to go and we had a slight lead on them so we were going to try and put our 3 fastest guys (Thad, Dustin and Myself) on the track and finish it out, and they ended up doing the same thing and putting Kanney, Bobbitt, and Butrick out.That is when we started having some troubles, they were riding really well and we were making mistakes and losing ground. They made the pass with about 1 1/2 to go and we just couldn't mount a charge to catch them.After 24 hours of racing and many gallons of gas being burned we finished a hard fought second place. This race is a true test for the machine and it really showed how strong the WR's are. Even on a bike with many hours on it prior to the race the only maintence we did was change one rear tire, 2 sets of rear brake pads, 1 oil and filter change and we changed the air filter every 4 laps. That is it! The Trail Tech lighting system never missed a beat and kept the night looking like day the entire night and even though the bike felt a little loose by the end it was still running strong.Top 3 Overall1-KTM/Cycle Specialties
2-Am-Pro, FMF, Yamaha
3-Action Kawasaki/YamahaA special thanks for the tiring efforts of our pit crew, mechanics, friends, family, and fans for their 24 hours of work! Thank you to all of our Team Sponsors for their continued efforts to our team.
