Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1514917
My line in the old guy 65 class had 18 riders, and the younger age classes had double and triple that. The dead engine starts made for some excitement at the first turn and there were a few spectacular dusty pile ups. I haven't bought a place down here yet, so 90 percent of my stuff is in storage. My two race bikes, a 2018 Gas Gas 300 and my trusty 2000 400EXC KTM sit neglected in the back of the van. The KTM hadn't been washed or started since last Septem- ber's ISDT Reunion Ride in New England. I decid- ed I'd give it a whirl for Saturday's 65-plus race and ride the Gasser in the 60B class on Sunday. I thought it would be fun to do an informal shoot-out and see what bike I felt be er on and which on cut the fastest laps. I had some lap data from a summer sprint enduro, so I had an idea of what I'd see, but wanted to confirm what I already felt was true. I've had the KTM since new and it fits like your favorite old pair of shoes. I can just hop on it and know what it's gonna do. The bike is as reliable as a stone ax, as the old bike magazines used to say, and has never le me stranded despite s ll being on the original piston and rings. Yup, never had the top end off, just adjust the valves every so o en and keep her happy with good oil and clean filters. The Gas Gas is the newest bike I've ever ridden. It is the "legacy" Gas Gas, last year before KTM bought the name, so it is basically like the Reiju's you see on the dealer floors now. I love the lugability of the engine, a nod to the brand's trials heritage no doubt, and the KYB suspension is quite nice. The previous owner decked it out with a SmartCarb and all the protec- ve bling a guy could want, so for me it was buy it, put gas in it, and go racing. I've really enjoyed the 2-stroke a er years on the old reliable RFS KTM. I got off the line mid-pack in the Saturday 65-plus class, my usual mediocre start, but fairly quickly picked off a couple of riders who dawdled in corners. Any hopes of a podium spot were quickly dashed when I rounded a corner to find two riders sprawled in the middle of the trail. One of them, a young lady A rider, was already cradling her right arm in the classic "collarbone or broken arm" pose. The other "crashee" was all right and busy clearing the bikes off the trail. I stayed with the injured rider, assessed injuries, level of consciousness and all the other stuff forty years of running fire and medical calls has you do. She was OK and pissed that racing was out of the ques on for the next couple of months.