Trail Rider Magazine

start area. Lap one was tough. I couldn't really find my groove, every opportunity I had I was looking ahead trying to get a glimpse of the leaders but they were gone. By the end of lap two I had made my way into 5th place and was beginning to ride fairly well. I was matching the leader's laps so I wasn't moving forward but at least I wasn't losing any more time. My laps ticked off pretty consistently but I was in no mans land and riding by myself for the majority of the race. Toward the end of lap six I could here a bike coming up behind me. It was Ben Kelley and he was on a tare. It really caught me off guard because I assumed Ben was in front of me the whole time. What I didn't know was while Ben was up challenging for the lead early on he sustained a flat tire and I had actually passed him while he was in the pits changing wheels. He made the pass on me quite quickly and I was looking to tag on. That really didn't work out due to the hard encounter I had with a maple tree that came out of nowhere. I scraped my self up and carried on. Lap seven I had another good lap matching times with the leaders. In the end, Jason Klammer took another win, but it did not come easy as Dillon Garmley was keeping him honest all day long even leading a couple of laps. John Kelly took home 3rd, Ben Kelley 4th, and me in 5th. Martins Mayhem When the green flag dropped I got an all too familiar look at the back of the pack. My starts this season have been less than stellar. It seems that this year, especially the starts, are becoming more and more important as the pace at the front of the race has really picked up. VEE RUBBER VRM 300 GNCC TACKEE We are always on the hunt for an alternative to the Bridgestone M59/Pirelli MT 16 combination that work so well in New England. The rest of the country has a wide variety of tires and combinations to choose from but in New England, not so much. Brian DeVries of LDA racing sells the Vee Rubber tire and offered up a pair of the VRM 300 Tackee GNNC for testing, feeling that the Tackee was a viable alternative for handling the rocks and roots of the region. The Tackee line is a dual compound tire in which the carcass, sidewall and knobby are constructed of a harder compound that is then coated in a thick, soft and tacky rubber. When you twist the knobs, the exterior feels like their trials tire but with a firmer interior. For this test, I used heavy duty tubes and ran the tires on my KTM XC-250. The first lesson learned is that the front tire needs to run at about 16 psi or it tends to fold in the corners. Once that was figured out, the front tire performed much better. Both tires offer enough flex to allow for a wide footprint and provide fine traction under typical conditions. We then ran the tires over 26 Trail Rider Nick Hunter grabbed the holeshot and the early lead with Klammer in tow. Those two distanced themselves from the field by about a minute on lap 1, while there was a six way battle going on for 3rd. Klammer took the lead in the early stages of lap 2 with Hunter in 2nd and Dylan Macritchie taking control of 3rd. By the 3rd lap I had been on the ground enough times to realize that there was no way I was making my way to the front, but I had to keep fighting because every point is valuable especially at this point in the season. The trail conditions were extremely tough, there was a thin layer of grease covering almost the entire course. In the dozens of times I have raced at this track I have never seen it this slippery, even in the rain. 95 degree temps made it a really tough day to stay hydrated. Brendon Riordan would soon push his way into third place, he was really on the move today coming all the way from the back. By the end of lap 3 I found my self in a good battle with Nick Kordana for 6th place. This would continue for the remainder of the race. I was able to hold him off , but it wasn't easy as I was taking some major pit board abuse from Nicks mother. The one that almost got me was when she offered me a cheese burger, if there was any mention of fries she would have had me. In the end Klammer took another impressive win with Hunter barely hanging on to 2nd over Riordan, Micritchie 4th and Ben Kelly 5th. I have to thank all my sponsors for making it possible to compete week after week Edelmanns, Husaburg, C-Cycle, LDA Racing, Vee Rubber, STS, Klim, Bullet proof and Enduro Engineering. several large tracts of steep, exposed bedrock where the softer compound hooked up exceptionally well - as good as the Pirelli MT 16. When condition were dry, both tires worked well in the rocks and roots with the rear tire edging the front in overall performance. The front tend tends to transmit energy from the rocky terrain. The rear tire is on par with MT-16 when conditions are dry but for some odd reason, the performance wasn't as good when wet. I put about 150 miles on the tires and wore through the softer compound on some the rear knobs at about 80 miles. Overall both tires worked well in dry conditions with the rear tire edging the front in overall performance, at least in the rocks and roots. Outside of the rocks and roots, the tires worked quite well. Cost is about the same as the Bridgestone/MT-16 combination but can be had for less. www.TrailRider.com

• Cover