Tom and Greg's Rode' to Linz...
By TMX Archives on 21st Aug 08
KTM D3 Riders Tom Sagar (pictured above) and Greg Evans drove out to Linz, in Austria, to take part in the first round of a new EnduroCross series called Rodeo X, organised by the team who have successfully hosted the famous Erzberg events. The man-made Rodeo X circuit was built completely on tarmac and comprised many log sections, tyres, stones and a small sand section which gave a lap time of around one minute, but being outside and exposed to the elements it became very slippy. Two days of solid rain made the logs very difficult and the organisers placed carpets on them to allow more traction.
Both D3 Riders chose to ride 250cc two-strokes, which seemed best suited to the small tricky circuit, but only having Enduro tyres fitted they struggled on the wet tarmac start against bikes with trials tyres. Local favourite Rudi Poschl, on his 530 KTM, had a trials tyre and he just rocketed out of every start and made Tom really work hard for his results.
Tom won both days of Enduro X, but not easily, as he had to work his way through the pack. On day two, it was far more interesting as they removed the carpets from the logs for the final race and they were just so slippery that every rider crashed and got stuck on them. Tom actually took the lead in this race because he could push his bike faster through the log section than the others!
The crowd were going wild as riders crashed and got stuck on each lap. Tom just rode carefully and tried to pick his way through the fallen riders.
Greg had a terrible time and just seemed to be always be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got stuck several times. At the finish Tom won by nearly a lap with Greg fifth.
RESULTS
1 Tom Sagar (250 KTM), 2 Gerhard Forster (450 BMW), 3 Rudi Poschl (530 KTM)....5 Greg Evans (250 KTM).