Race Report: ECEA Round 6: PBER Clock Run Enduro

WER Rider: Zack Huberty

Bike: KTM 200 XC

Result: A-200 2^nd  

Point Standings: 4^th

Report:

After the Delaware Enduro, I was pretty disappointed and frustrated with my results.  I sat down Monday and created a plan for me to get back on the right track.  With the help of Jamie at Powerseal USA, I was able to get some guidance and I figured out what I needed to do.  Jamie helped set me up with a plan for training, working out, and gave me some pointers for the season.  Leading up to the PBER Enduro, I worked a lot on strength, eating right, and preparing myself for the enduro by drinking lots of water.  The other key piece of advice was focus.  I needed to focus on what I wanted to accomplish, and leave the rest of the junk on the sidelines.   

            On Sunday morning, my dad and I traveled to the Chatsworth area to race the PBER Clock Run enduro.  I had a good night of sleep and was anxious to see if I could improve upon last week’s bad race.  I was also anxious to see how my new gearing would handle.  I was expecting a low scoring day and some wide open sections so I put on our Renthal 46T sprocket to give me a little more speed (normally I run a 48T).  With cloudy skies in the morning, I hoped it wasn’t going to rain but that helped block out the sun.  It was a nice 60 degrees out. 

            For this enduro, my main goal was to keep focused throughout the day, maintain my energy, and ride smooth.  At 8:08, my line took off down the road.  The club did a nice job of giving all of us riders a nice warm-up as the first two checks were easily zeroed.  The next section was the first points taker of the day.  The trail consisted of lots of whoops, tight woods, and fast flowing trails.  I rode smooth through these and tried to minimize my mistakes.  I also focused on getting as much speed through each straight-away by never letting off of the throttle until I absolutely needed to.  I dropped a respectable 4 in this section.  I felt good after the section because I had rode flawless through the section without crashing. 

            The next section of the day was also a points taker.  I dropped a 1 in this section.  The trail continued to be pretty wide-open with lots of whoops.  The key to all of these whoops seemed to be speed and momentum.  I was happy that we fixed the carburetor and idling problems with the bike for this race.  My only problem in the few sections was that I couldn’t get my front wheel to stay up in the whoops.  The wheel seemed to dip down when I wanted to skim the tops.   

            At the second gas stop, I was able to walk over to my sponsor, Drew Smith at WER Suspension, and I asked him about my suspension.  He was extremely helpful with it and he recommended me to stiffen up the suspension.  With about 5 clicks in on the compression, my suspension worked a lot better throughout the day.  I have to say it is very helpful when your suspension tuner also rides the same enduro series.  His experience of the terrain helped me ride smoother, faster, and gain confidence. 

            In the last section of the day, I was able to only drop 1 point in a 7 mile section.  Stiffening up the suspension helped make the bike more manageable in the whoops.  These whoops were very soft and deep which meant that momentum was key.  At the end of the enduro, I knew that every second throughout the day had counted.  Since the points lost were so small, the race would be decided on that.  My focus and work-out plan seemed to help me out.  After finishing the race, I was able to stick around to see the results.  I was surprised to see that I had placed 2^nd and 20^th overall!  This was a great way to turn around a bad race.  The next race is in the rocks so it should be interesting how I finish.  I will continue to stick to my plan and I hope to continually improve. 

            Once again, I could not have done all of this without the support of my family, especially my dad for his race support, as well as my sponsors which are Johnny Limp at Torc1Racing, Drew Smith at WER Suspension, PowerSeal USA, FMF, BRP, EKS Brand Goggles, P3, All Balls Racing, Galfer USA, Sixsixone, Kenda, N-Style, Vertex Pistons, AXO, DT-1 Filters, AP Brakes, Motorex, Acerbis, Matto Cycle, MotoConcepts, Renthal, Clockwork KTM, and Topar Racing.  I would also like to thank Paul J Freeman http://www.pjfreemanphotography.com for help with pictures.

For more information:

Check WER Suspension out at Facebook “Works Enduro Rider (WER)”

Check Zack Huberty out at Facebook “Zack’s Racing”