Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1514917
February 2024 21 kick start the bike, and it always fires right up with the Smart Carb. Of course, when the flag dropped, my foot slipped off the kickstart lever and everyone was into the first corner by the me I had fire. Other than being pissed at my- self, I wasn't really concerned about my crappy start. I just come to ride and have fun. Anything more than that is gravy, so I se led in to chase down the slower guys in my class. The course was a blast. This part of Texas doesn't have a lot of huge eleva on change, thus no long up or down hills, but they make up for it with some shorter but more extremely angled drops into and climbs out of creek beds and rocky draws. The Goertz Ranch course had a couple of sudden rear-wheel dragging down- hills and a couple of nice climbs up hillsides, nothing overly challenging for an average rider like me, but enough to make you momentarily pucker up when you saw them on your first lap. The course also had a couple of runs through sandy, whooped out creek beds, each a li le less than half a mile. On Saturday I felt I made decent me through them, even though I'm not a sand rider, but on Sunday I felt I struggled on the Gasser as the creek beds had really been whooped out much deeper following the Sat- urday pro race. I guess it is the more planted feeling of the KTM, because I felt like I was all over the place on the Gas Gas and couldn't hold a line worth a crap. At the end of the day, I didn't bring home any hardware, but I truly didn't expect to. Even the old guys classes down here are inhabited by some pre y quick riders. My seat of the pants bike shoot-out had me feeling faster and more comfortable on the old KTM, but when I think about it on the course while on the Gas Gas, I know it is quicker and more flickable and jumps out of corners be er than the Katoom. Fortunately for those interested in sta s cs, TORCS gives detailed race results using transponder ming like most series do these days. In addi on to class placement, they post lap mes, lap average, fastest lap, and overall me. The seat of the pants might lie, but the me clock doesn't. My best lap on the KTM was 22 minutes 28 seconds. Best lap on the Gasser was 21-18. That's 70 seconds difference! I men oned that I had data from a summer sprint enduro, which coincidentally was held at the same loca on. In that race, the Gas Gas proved to be 29.25 seconds faster (on average) through the cross test and 22.50 seconds faster through the enduro test. So, does that mean I'm gonna shelve or sell the old KTM? Ab- solutely not! That bike is s ll so much fun to ride, and I've had it for so long that it feels like part of the family. What it does mean is that the KTM will probably be relegated to fun trail riding and back-up bike status for the most part, at least un l the urge arises to wring it out on the race track again. It is s ll a worthy weapon, sadly just not the fastest for me anymore. There's a TCSEC sprint enduro coming up near me next month. Who knows, a round three shoot-out might s ll be in the works!