QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 28 PRODUCT REVIEW 102 YZ65 FIRST TEST. Yamaha MISSING LINK

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1 QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 28 PRODUCT REVIEW 102 YZ65 YZ FIRST TEST Yamaha MISSING LINK

2 CN III VOICES WHAT YOU ARE SAYING P6 His attempt to save another s life shows what type of man he was! Even if it was the life of a pet. Jason Anderson JASON ANDERSON Congratulations to Jason Anderson. He would not have been the first one to crack under the pressure of having the points lead for so long. He apparently learned a lot from Ryan Dungey. Nice job. Also, after watching the replays of the attempted passes/ take-outs of the Las Vegas Supercross last year, I still do not understand how Eli Tomac can be so critical of the pass by Marvin Musquin. It was a battle for the win on the last lap of a supercross race. If he didn t want the possibility of being taken out, he shouldn t have left the door open. Paul Trautman OUR PLEASURE Thank you Cycle News for the Voices and [Looking Back] memories going back 50 years. I rode my bicycle for a 25- cent Cycle News at Joe Koons in Long Beach, California. I watched Gary Bailey ride TT/ short track on a Greeves at Trojan Speedway in South Gate, California. I saw Randy Mamola ride TT on a Hodaka 100 at Port Hueneme, California, and the great John R. at Perris TT in Perris, California. Yes, great memories for all of us back in the 60 s. Tim Beason ERIC GEBOERS As a Belgian, the Geboers family is motocross royalty supertalented and never gloating, even though he [Eric] had every right to. Eric Geboers Just a class act and a very hard worker giving 100%. Simply tragic. Victoria Verstraeten So very sorry to hear of his passing. Eric Geboers was one of my childhood heroes, along with Roger DeCoster, Joel Robert, Gerrit Wolsink and Heikki Mikkola. His attempt to save another s life shows what type of man he was! Even if it was the life of a pet. Michael Ruhlin One of the best of all time, a world champion in all three classes is simply incredible, and he was a really good guy, as well. Rest in peace, Eric, you won t be forgotten. Al Banta ZARCO TO KTM He could be making a huge mistake. KTM is an unproven machine in MotoGP. How many times in the past has this same scenario played itself out an up-and-coming rider, or even an established racer with a proven win record, gets a great offer to race and help develop a new or unproven machine, only to produce a huge setback in the career of the racers due to a machine that never does, or is slow to, produce results? Money does not guarantee future results. Adam Wright Letters to the editor can be sent to voices@cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Letters should not exceed 150 words and are subject to editing. Anonymous letters won t be considered for publication and each letter should contain the writer s name, address and daytime phone number Editor

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4 VOL. 55 ISSUE 19 MAY 15, 2018 P9 Run For Your Life The start of an Endurance World Championship race is like no other, as 25+ riders race to their bikes on foot before a cylinder is fired. The F.C.C. TSR Honda France team (5) started on pole but finished third. PHOTOGRAPHY BY FIMEWC.COM

5 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P62 Mees Breezes Jared Mees scores wire-to-wire win BY DAVE HOENIG PHOTOGRAPHY BY FLAT TRAK FOTOS American Flat Track returned to the Turf Paradise Mile for the fifth race of the 2018 season, but the Law Tigers Arizona Mile presented by Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson event looked very much like the previous four rounds only longer. Despite having to fight for wins in his heat and semi, Jared Mees (Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing, Indian Scout FTR750) did much like he has all season. Mees stormed off the starting line and led all 20 laps of a shortened AFT Twins main event. The AFT Twins class gets down to business in the final.

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7 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P64 iii My Own Race: 1 JARED MEES AFT TWINS 1ST Using a tried and true strategy Jared Mees is dominating the series like few if any ever have. I m glad to be able to pull off another win. I wanted to get a good start and run my own race, said Mees. I didn t want anybody in front of me, so I wouldn t have to worry about the dust. The dust was in like pockets. When you hit the pockets it was like, boom bags of dust went off. The last few laps I got into some lappers and it was getting darker and harder to see. I looked back and I had a huge lead, so I didn t see any point in pressing it. Brad was starting to catch me there at the end. I could have dug deeper and pulled some more speed out, but we brought it home and I m looking forward to Sacramento. All in all, for me, it was good. 17 HENRY WILES AFT TWINS 3RD Henry Wiles held on to third at the finish line every lap, but Bauman was all over him the whole race, trying the inside and outside just hoping to force a mistake. I didn t see Briar much. He got around me a few times when I made mistakes, said Wiles. I actually kind of lost him a little bit in one of the corners when he made a mistake. I honestly thought that I had pulled clear of him after he got a little wide on a corner and then he poked right back up in there. I thought, Okay, he is still right there, hanging in there. I was able to get back on him and get back by. It was just a tough track and we were running into lappers. I was happy to get by Briar and get on the podium. 6 BRAD BAKER AFT TWINS 2ND Brad Baker had a strong run, but came up nine-tenths of a second short, still looking for that first win aboard an Indian Scout FTR750. We were so evenly matched in the semi that in the main event I knew I had to get off with Jared, said Brad Baker. I figured if he got away from me the only way I would be able to catch him would be if he made a mistake and Jared is not a rider that makes mistakes. I didn t really make any mistakes either. We kind of hung the same distance for a while. He would distance me out a little bit then make a mistake and I would catch back up. I wasn t fast enough to be able to make up that ground, unfortunately. When we started getting into the lappers at the end, I caught up to him. It was just too little, too late. My hat s off to him. 14 BRIAR BAUMAN AFT TWINS 4TH I got a good start and made some passes and got to Henry. That was about it for the whole main, said Briar Bauman. It was 20 laps of him and I going back and forth. Hopefully we gave the crowd something to watch. I can t thank Dave [Zanotti] enough for giving me that bike; it was so good in the corners. Once again, the Indians were good on the straightaways. I think we are getting closer. If we can just get a little more straightaway speed, I think we will be okay. I passed him once going through one and two. I thought I had him cleared. The stronger corner for me tonight was three and four. I went in there knowing that I was ahead of him and blew it off the groove. He went back by. I passed him on the white flag lap going into three and went around on the outside. I was hoping that I could get through three and four better than he could. I led off turn four, but he went by me and had a bike or two on me at the checkered flags.

8 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P66 Fighting track conditions all day, the race schedule was already running behind when a red flag in the AFT Singles main pushed things back even further. With the setting sun and pockets of dust in the riders faces exiting turn four, the start of the Twins National was delayed until the sun was behind the grandstand, but this left little light to finish the full 25 laps. The sun was bad coming off turn four, said Mees. I don t think it would have been too bad if there was a big black groove and it was consistent, or you knew what you were going to get. The problem was you didn t know what you were go- (Above) Jared Mees ran off with his fourth win of the season (not counting his Atlanta win and subsequent disqualification). (Right) Brad Baker made a run on Mees late in the race but it was too late. ing to get. Rob Pearson (R/J Performance/Hite Trucking, Indian Scout FTR750) came off the line first and led into turn one, but Mees and Henry Wiles (Wilco Racing/Willy Built, Indian Scout FTR750) quickly blasted by and by the end of the first lap Mees had nearly half a second lead over Wiles. Brad Baker (Indian Motorcycle/Allstate Motorcycle Insur-

9 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P68 ance, Indian Scout FTR750) had led last year s race for almost the whole way only to lose out to his teammate Bryan Smith in the waning moments. Baker had opted to start on the second row, behind Mees in hopes of latching on to the champion s coat tails. Unfortunately for Baker it didn t work out and he had to work his way to the front. By the time Baker moved into third he was over a second off the pace and never able to reel Mees in. The top two positions were set, but the battle over the last podium spot kept the near capacity crowd entertained. Wiles had it, but Briar Bauman (Zanotti Racing/Western Powersports, Kawasaki Ninja 650) was trying every trick he had to take over. Bauman grabbed the spot several times, even on the last lap, but could never close the deal. Following that battle by over 10 seconds, Brandon Robinson (Harley-Davidson Motor Company/Vance & Hines, Harley- Davidson XG750R) clung to a fifth-place finish just holding off Davis Fisher (Double D Performance/Bob Lanphere Beaverton

10 VOL. 55 ISSUE 19 MAY 15, 2018 P69 Motorcycles, Indian Scout FTR750) who had a horrendous start and was 15th on lap one. About two seconds back came another pack of Indian Scout FTR750s. Rob Pearson was able to hold off Chad and Jeffrey Carver in a tight battle for seventh. Mikey Rush filled out the top 10, the last rider on the lead lap, as Mees had started lapping riders on lap 11. The setting sun blinded the riders in turn four, which eventually delayed the start of the main event. Briefly... BAKED TRACK After two years of triple digit temperatures, this years version of the Arizona mile was relatively cool with temperatures in the upper 80 s to low 90 s. Steady winds and beating sun still played havoc with the sand-based track. I hate to be negative, but I m glad that this race is over, said Jared Mees. I m glad that everybody is walking out in one piece. I don t want to sound like the track was so dangerous, but it was beat up. I want to give a hats-off to the whole American Flat Track crew and Dennis Pearson, because they really tried hard. There was not a lack of effort by any means. It is just the conditions you deal with here with the sun, the heat and the track surface being sand. The track was super technical. I don t know if we will get any more technical than that this year, said Brad Baker. Hats off to everybody that just kept their head down today. It s a sandy track with 90 degrees heat and wind you can only do so much. As a racer it was treacherous, it was just a long day. Everybody came home safe, that s the most important thing. MOVING ON UP Jared Mees win (the 34th of his career) moves him into a tie with Bubba Shobert for most Grand National wins. Mees now holds a full race points lead at 25 over Henry Wiles (100-75) with Briar Bauman just three points behind Wiles. Jeffrey Carver and Brad Baker are fourth and fifth with 63 and 62 points, respectively. REJUVENATED Henry Wiles rejuvenated career shows in his early season success. I can t thank my sponsors enough; I

11 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P70 Henry Wiles and Briar Bauman had a fight for the final podium position. AFT SINGLES Even with the tricky track conditions, the 15-lap AFT Singles main turned into a bare-knuckle brawl. Dan Bromley (KTM North America/Bromley Motorsports, KTM 450 SX-F) was able to edge out Tristan Avery (Ron Ayers Racing/Mr. Sign, Honda CRF450R) for the holeshot and lead the first three laps. Jesse Janisch (Roof-Systems/ West Bend Harley-Davidson, Yamaha YZ450F), Avery, Brandon Price (Parkinson Brothers Racing/DPC Racing, Honda CRF450R), Kevin Stollings (Roof-Systems/Woody Kyle Racing, Honda CRF450R), Briefly... have a smaller program right now, said Wiles. We keep getting better and better. Bandit Industries came on after we got rolling. The season keeps coming to together. We might not be on the podium every week, but it seems like collectively I ve been doing decent. I have minimal time on the bike. That was the fourth time I ve ridden it now. We haven t done any testing. It has helped that Bryan Bigelow has come out to help tune a little bit. DOG FIGHT While the AFT Twins points race is a lopsided affair, the AFT Singles is a true dog fight. Five races in there have been five winners and last year s runner-up, Brandon Price, holds a one-point lead over Dan Bromley (85-84). Ryan Wells sits 15 points back with Morgen Mischler and Shayna Texter tied for fourth with 63 points. GOOD BUT WANTS BETTER Brad Baker s second-place finish was the best of his year, but, like everyone else, he knows he has a ways to go to match Mees. This is my first podium of the year. I kind of feel like I have my mojo back, said Baker. We ve switched to Ohlins suspension this year. They are a great company to work for. The suspension is awesome, but

12 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P72 Kevin Stollings (99) and Dan Bromley (62) entertained the crowd with a great battle for the Singles win, which eventually went Stollings way. Cory Texter (Cory Texter Racing/ Law Tigers/D&D Cycles, Honda CRF450R) and Ryan Wells (Richie Morris Racing/Al Lamb Honda, Honda CRF450R) were all breathing down Bromley s neck. After three laps Price took over and the other positions continued to be swapped every lap. On lap nine, Avery forced his way into the lead, only to be dropped to third down the back straight. When the lead pack hit turn three Avery got into the back of a rider in front of Briefly... we re still just building data. The data we had on the suspension last year is just thrown out the window. Now we are starting over building data again. Jared and his team have been together for four years or so. They have more time on the Indian than anybody. They are super smart, and they are good at what they do. They just have so much data that they can come off the truck well. If they don t, they have a playbook of what they are going to do. We re still building our playbook. When you have a team as good as Jared s and an athlete as strong as Jared, and a person as determined as Jared, the only way to beat him is to follow suit and work just as hard and be just as smart. My work is cut out for me. Some days I feel that I am better than him. I just need to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

13 ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES P74 him and was sent sliding into the turn-three air fence. After the red flag, Avery was able to remount and join the restart from the back. Stollings made the most of the restart and went from third to first. Price, Bromley and Janisch were right behind. On lap 13, Price was back in front, but relinquished the lead back to Stollings at the white flag. One last attempt by Price to grab the point resulted in Bromley getting by for second. Janisch was just a heartbeat back in fourth. He was a full second ahead of a tight pack made up of Cory Texter, Ryan Wells and Cameron Smith. Another half-second back was the three-rider battle for eighth. Shayna Texter, Ben Lowe and Morgen Mischler filled out the top 10. The track was a little iffy here and there, but there were good parts. My strategy was to just keep my line, avoid all the bumps I could, stay smooth and catch the draft if I could, said Stollings. Luckily I was out front and got a good drive. Glad I was able to get it, and they couldn t get past me at the line. It was pretty fun, it was real close. CN AFT TWINS 1. Jared Mees (Ind) 2. Brad Baker (Ind) 3. Henry Wiles (Ind) 4. Briar Bauman (Kaw) 5. Brandon Robinson (H-D) 6. Davis Fisher (Ind) 7. Robert Pearson (Ind) 8. Chad Cose (Ind) 9. Jeffrey Carver Jr. (Ind) 10. Mikey Rush (Yam) AFT SINGLES 1. Kevin Stollings (Hon) 2. Dan Bromley (KTM) 3. Brandon Price (Hon) 4. Jesse Janisch (Yam) 5. Cory Texter (Hon) 6. Ryan Wells (Hon) 7. Cameron Smith (Hon) 8. Shayna Texter (Hus) 9. Ben Lowe (Kaw) 10. Morgen Mischler (Yam) Brandon Price was in the thick of things as well, and finished out the Singles main on the podium.

14 ROUND 6 / MAY 13, 2018 X-FACTOR WHITETAILS HUNTING RANCH / PERU, INDIANA OFF-ROAD AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES P76 Russell, Duvall At It Again Kailub Russell out-duels Thad Duvall for X-Factor win

15 VOL. 55 ISSUE 19 MAY 15, 2018 P77 Kailub Russell (1) leads Thad Duvall through the woods late in the race. BY SHAN MOORE PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN HILL A trend has started to develop in the last few rounds of the Grand National Cross Country Series: Kailub Russell jumps out to the early lead, gets chased down by Thad Duvall, setting things up for a final-lap showdown between the two rivals for the overall victory. This was again the scenario at the X-Factor Whitetails Hunting Ranch in Peru, Indiana, and for the fifth time in six races, the FMF KTM rider held off Duvall to take the win. While the last half of the three-hour race was business as usual, with Duvall chasing Russell to the finish, Steward Baylor led most of the first hour of racing. At one point the Tely Energy Racing KTM rider even threatened to run away with the race. However, a dislodged footpeg heading into the second hour of racing foiled the South Carolina rider s bid for his first GNCC win of the season and dropped him out of contention for the win.

16 ROUND 6 / MAY 13, 2018 X-FACTOR WHITETAILS HUNTING RANCH / PERU, INDIANA OFF-ROAD AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES P78 During the second hour, Steward Baylor s brother, and Tely Energy Racing teammate, Grant Baylor, began making a push that would carry him from last to third place. Grant even moved into second at one point when Duvall stopped for gas. During the third and final hour, the race for the lead between Russell and Duvall tightened up. At one point, Russell held a 17-second lead, but Duvall whittled that down to just a handful of seconds as the two-lap board came out. With Duvall making a final push for the lead, Russell was able to manage the lappers and use the dust to his advantage and eventually took the checkers with five seconds to spare over Duvall. We had a good day, said Russell. We got out to the early lead, but then I made a mistake and went down and Thad caught up to me. After that, I took a bad line and he went around me, but I was able to get back around him once we got out here in the open. Overall, it was a good race. Thad was right there all day and he kept me honest. Duvall put in one of his best efforts of the year for second, though it was clear after the race that the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider was getting tired of playing the bridesmaid. It was a frustrating day for sure, said Duvall. I got off to a Duvall put on another laterace charge but came up a few seconds short.

17 ROUND 6 / MAY 13, 2018 X-FACTOR WHITETAILS HUNTING RANCH / PERU, INDIANA OFF-ROAD AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES P80 good start, but somebody took me wide in the first turn so I was coming from the back early in the race. I was able to catch up, but I just didn t have it in the end. I m tired of getting second. We put in a lot of work during the week to come out here and not get the win. Grant Baylor turned a few heads with a third-place finish. The South Carolina rider has had a tough year with injuries, but he has been on a roll since winning the National Enduro in Virginia just one week before the Indiana GNCC. These last couple of weeks have been unbelievable, said Grant. I broke my hand about a month ago and I struggled with it for a few weeks, but I won last week and then to get on the podium this weekend is fantastic. Steward Baylor managed to replace his footpeg during a second-hour pit stop and still manage to work his way into fourth Grant Baylor came from last to third, and even held second place for a moment.

18 ROUND 6 / MAY 13, 2018 X-FACTOR WHITETAILS HUNTING RANCH / PERU, INDIANA OFF-ROAD AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES P82 Josh Toth (center) won the XC2 250 Pro class ahead of Benjamin Kelley (left) and Craig Delong. overall, beating out JCR Honda s Trevor Bollinger by about 30 seconds for the spot. Josh Strang brought his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna in for sixth, with N-Fab AmPro Yamaha s Ricky Russell in seventh. Eighth, and first in the XC2 250 Pro division, was FMF KTM s Josh Toth, who chipped into the XC2 250 Pro points lead held by TrailJesters FMF KTM rider Ben Kelley, who finished ninth overall and second in class. Coastal Racing Husqvarna s Craig DeLong rounded out the top 10 overall and finished third in the XC2 250 Pro class. Former National Hare Scrambles Champion Jason Raines won the FMF XC3 Pro Am class on a Raines Racing AmPro Yamaha, beating out KTM-mounted Jesse Ansley and Cody Barnes (Yamaha). In the morning race, KTMmounted Chris Bach took the overall and Sportsman A-class win with just under two minutes to spare over WXC-class winner Tayla Jones (Husqvarna). Jones had to work hard the whole way, as fellow WXC rider Mackenzie Tricker was right there ready to pounce, crossing the finish line approximately 90 seconds behind Jones. Fourth overall and third WXC rider was Brooke Cosner (Yamaha) who took the checkers just seven seconds behind Tricker. CN OVERALL 1. Kailub Russell (KTM) 2. Thad Duvall (Hus) 3. Grant Baylor (KTM) 4. Steward Baylor (KTM) 5. Trevor Bollinger (Hon) 6. Josh Strang (Hus) 7. Ricky Russell (Yam) 8. Josh Toth (KTM) 9. Ben Kelley (KTM) 10. Craig DeLong (Hus)