Australasian Dirt Bike – June 2019

SOIL SAMPLE FROM OUR HEROES

22 |JUNE 2019 http://www.adbmag.com.au

Fear

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU’RE DAKAR

CHAMPION TOBY PRICE OR THE

HUMBLE ADB OFFICE JUNIOR, THE

FEAR OF FAILURE IS REAL

HUSQVARNA’SCOLTON

HAAKERsecuredhisthird

SuperEnduroWorld

Championship at the fi nal

round in Bizkaia Arena, Bilbao,

but not without some help from

teammate Alfredo Gomez.

Haaker was leading the title

fi ght heading into the round

and only two other riders, KTM

duo Taddy Blazusiak and Cody

Webb, had a mathematical

chance of winning.

Webb won the fi rst of the

three races in Bilbao but

Haaker managed to snatch the

win in Race Two – it would all

come down to the fi nal moto.

But the wheels came off

Haaker’s wagon and he could

do nothing but watch Webb

cruise to victory as he

struggled to keep his Husky

rubber-side down.

Haaker only needed to fi nish

fourth to deny Webb the title

but, with one corner to go, he

wasstillinfifthandWebbhad

alreadybeguncelebrating.But,

inwhatwasachampionship-

deciding move, Gomez stopped

on the fi nish line to block

fourth-placed Husqvarna rider

Pol Tarres and allow Haaker to

crash across the fi nishing jump

in third.

Haaker thereby snatched the

title from Webb, who was visibly

very pissed off.

Webb’s fans on Instagram

compared it to Marvin Musquin

letting Ryan Dungey past, to

which Webb replied: “This was a

whole new level from that.”

Because not only did Gomez

stop to wait for Haaker, but he

blocked Tarres from crossing

the line.

Although Gomez’s actions

were not explicitly against the

rules, he was disqualifi ed.

Sadly, the FIM did nothing to

change the outcome of the

championship fi ght.

JUST FOLLOWING

ORDERS

EDITOR MITCH LEES was

desk-bound with a bad back

for this year’s Kowen Forest

Ride so Olly enrolled the

help of our Vicco-based

staff writer, the one and

only Dylan Ruddy, to run his

bath. Dyl was entrusted with

Mitch’s Honda CRF450L but

that didn’t stop him from

having a red-hot crack at all

the gnarly hills Kowen had

to offer.

RudBot had done well not

to put a scratch on the

Honda until he looped it out

on a snotty hill.

It was a pretty gentle

loop-out but it did snap the

rear mudguard clean off at

the subframe.

Panic set in once Dyl

realised what he’d done but

we talked him down from the

ledge and had the rear ’guard

fi xed in a couple of minutes.

We decided not to tell Mitch

because what he doesn’t

know won’t hurt him, until he

reads this page...

HANDLE WITH CARE

ADBINTERNJARVIS

Regan almost turned his

parent’s VW Tiguan around

when he arrived at Kowen

Forest Ride, after driving all

the way from Orange, to fi nd

he had no reception. For most

punters at Kowen, having no

reception is a welcomed

break from the real world but

for young Jarvis it was a

nightmare.

He had several Tinder

chats on the go and with no

reception for 48 hours he

was worried these lukewarm

leads might go cold. The

DSMRA does actually offer

wifi to volunteers and media

but we didn’t tell Jarvis. He

eventually found a hill with

reception a short drive from

the campsite, where he spent

most of the weekend.

LUV ME

TINDER