WHAT: ROUND 4 HILLBILLY GP SREIES

WHEN: JAN 8 2012

WHERE: BRANSON WEST, MISSOURI

BIKE: KTM 350 XCF

RESULT: OVERALL WINNER

 

I was actually going to skip this race and just work the event, but a friend Dale Rector told me to ride his 350 XCF so I figured wht the heck, I have never ridden a 4 stroke, let alone race one, so I decided to go for it. I went out to Dales house and picked up the bike saturday afternoon and took it to a friends of mine house that has a small moto track in his backyard. I just wanted to spend a little time on it to get it set up for my liking. I rode it for about 30 minutes and decided that the bike was pretty dang cool, so I was pumped to race it.

We left home around 8 am to make the long 25 minute drive to the race site (pretty handy). We pulled in and the field was nearly full, looks like a great turnout for a balmy 50 degree day in January. This weather has been a dirt bikers dream!! We unloaded and got set up, I really didnt know how to start this thing so I tried a few dead engine starts. went out on practice and got used to the bike in the woods, the TBT Suspension worked awesome, the motor was good so I was kind of jacked up waiting to race.

THE RACE: I went to the line and was going to line up toward the inside but decided to go to the middle because the start was a little sketchy going into a right hander and down a steep hill to a hairpin corner and back up the hill. When the start board dropped, the 350 wouldnt start, finally lit after a few seconds and I was dead last off the start, I was able to get around a few on the grass track, there were 12 pros so I knew I had some work to do, figuring Zack Neill was probably in the lead with Caleb Haynes and some other fast guys, I didnt want to give them to much of a head start, so I hammered it and was passing people and finally reeled in Neill before Unadilla hill, I passed him going down it which was kind of crazy, but what the heck, I took the lead in the forst lap and I was digging the 4 stroke, That thing really worked well. Zack was riding really well and he chased me for the second lap before i was able to upll away from him, I rode hard the rest of the way just trying to be smooth and not get into trouble, this place has some very steep hillclimbs and there were some bottlenecks, so when we got into lappers, I made sure not to get caught on a hillclimb, racing like this makes you look way down the trail. It all ended good with the win, Zach Neill second and Ethan Ezell rounded out the podium.

 

I really want to theank Dale Rector from Dales Roofing for letting me ride his bike, it was awesome, And thanks to everyone that is helping us out for our National Enduro Journey, it really means alot, couldnt do it without all you guys.

 THANKS TO: ALPINESTARS...BIKE GRAPHIX...BRIDGESTONE...CLOCKWORK KTM...ENDURO ENGINEERING...FMF...FLATLAND RACING...HINSON CLUTCHES...KTM NORTH AMERICA...LUCAS OIL...MOOSE RACING...OZARK TECHNICAL COLLEGE...OZARK FOAM INSEALATORS...TBT SUSPENSION...417 POWERSPORTS

Kole's website:  WWW.KOLEHENSLEE.COM