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STEPHEN STURGES RACE REPORT
6/5/11 - Perry Mountain 24 Hour Challenge in Alabama
I am extremely excited about my result this year at the Perry Mountain 24 hour Challenge, and was proud to represent the LACC Series. The conditions were Hades hot, humid and extremely dusty, living up to being "the ultimate test of endurance, skill and strategy ". Mike Goodman, 1st place Ironman overall, seemed to have it all but wrapped up by sunrise. He put out an impressive effort and truly deserved the win. Behind Goodman, a battle for 2nd overall was heating up and was down to three riders, Pete Kranburg, Eric Anderson and yours truly. I was down about 6 laps from Kranburg, who was 2nd overall and I had to make up the laps through the night. With 65 minutes remaining, I moved past Anderton, who was currently 3rd Ironman overall. Soon, I was on the same lap as Kranburg, 2nd place Ironman overall, though I was still 24 minutes back. My coach and trainer, Scott Hackett, of Leading Edge Moto Performance, told me to charge as hard as could to catch him. After that lap I came through scoring with 30mins before 10am bringing down the deficit to 40 seconds. I pushed hard and made a pass on the motocross track portion of the course and then checked out during what Scott said was one of my fastest laps of the entire race. I went through scoring with 7 mins left and I ran one more lap for good measure to lock up 2nd overall. Scott had me prepared for the race with proper nutrition, hydration, and a well thought out race plan. A special thanks goes out to Evan Shows for being part of my pit crew. Evan played a huge roll and kept my Thumper Racing KTM 300 in check during the race. I owe a big Thanks to Luke Bartkiewicz of ThermoProbe for making this years Perry Mountain 24 Hour Challenge a big success. Thanks to the rest of my sponsors: Klim, REVLOC Auto-Clutches, Thumper Racing, Moto-Master, Scott Racing USA, Risk Racing Palm Savers, and Blue Steel Sports anti-chafe cream. Stephen Sturges
