GasGas and the D23 enduro opener.

[Berkyboy]

Had a great time during Minnesota's AMA District 23 Enduro opener May 31st where GasGas all but stole the show placing in two of the top three overall positions.

Congratulations to Justin Williamson (GG) for finishing second to Minnesota's Craig Holasek (KTM) and to Tim Nienow (GG) for finishing 3rd. Holasek narrowly edged our Williamson with a score of 12 to Williamson's 13. Nienow had a score of 14.

Williamson 2nd overall finish was not bad considering it was only his 2nd "timed" (enduro) event ever. He admitted afterward that the first special test could of gone a little better had he only realized it was a test as he chose a brisk trial pace for the first couple of miles of that test before he realized it was a special test and it was time to put the hammer down. Justin rode the event “blind” without a computer keying off other riders on his minute to keep time.

To help put Williamson's second place finish into perspective Holasek has held the AMA National Enduro #5 plate a couple of times over the years and is a perennial favorite for District 23's Hare Scramble Series and Enduro Series championships.

Nienow's effort are also notable as the young gun (19 I think) ripped up the trails enroute to a solid third place finish leaving no doubt that he's an up and coming rider in Minnesota. He’s a great kid and a very talented rider and we look forward to working with him as it’s his first year on a GasGas after making the switch from KTM this winter.

As some of may or may not know Justin has taken up residence here at GoFasters for the summer where he has been helping out in the parts department as well as working on GasGas R&D and GasGas bike set up while he concentrates on the OMA series for the rest of the year. One of the benefits to that arrangement is we get first hand feed back on bike setup as he has been riding 4 or 5 times a week with Brian Hasslen (hasslbri from this site).

Speaking of Hasslen he had a good showing finishing 2nd in the Open A class aboard his EC300 "R." Hasslen wasn't even sure he was going to be riding as his suspension didn't make it back to Minnesota in time for the enduro and he had to borrow a set of suspension just to ride.

Other notable GasGas rides came from the father and son duo of Steve and Patrick Fiegen (Sioux Falls, SD) who made a six hour trip to the Huntersville (MN) area and finished 2nd and 4th in their classes (Open B and 200B) to make for respectable finishes all around the GoFasters race trailer.

Yours truly dusted off the 'ol baby blue "COUNT DOWN" route sheet holder to ride my first enduro in probably 5 years to finish a lowly 8th in the 200 A class.

Trail conditions were a little dusty at times as the sandy soil was in much need of rain but plenty of resets gave the day a casual pace with the event looping back on the start/finish area three times.

We spent part of the day on Saturday doing bike setup to prepare for the endless sand whoops that make up the local terrain and I can personally say the '07 200 GasGas suspension that I rode never missed a beat as the handling was always very predictable.

It also gave me a chance to see first hand Justin, Tim and Brian’s riding styles as I started ahead of each them on Sunday where I found myself making way for the GasGas freight train that rolled passed myself countless times though out the day.

Congratulations to Justin, Tim and Brian.

Go GasGas

[Treesmacker]

Great job at Huntersville GasGas riders!

Hope we see the GasGas race crew at the "Blue Hills" Enduro at Stone Lake, Wis June 21st also a District 23 race. No Whoops but plenty of ROCKS, and NO ATV trails!

I remember when Tim was a young kid on a TTR125 giving guy's on full size bikes a run for their money!
It's nice too see him doing so well and Thanks to GoFasters for supporting local talent!

[gasgasTIM]

Steve thanks for the great article. Its a great experience riding for Go fasters. Love every minute of it . Justin and Brian are great guys and i am learning alot from both them. Steve also thanks for the help saturday figuring out my brake problems.
Thanks Go-Fasters.
-Tim N

[Treesmacker]

Tim great ride at Akeley today with the "Overall" win! Looks like that GasGas 200 worked well for you today!
Keep it up!

[Berkyboy]

The EC200 Tim rode is a testement to the reliability of GasGas motorcycles.

It's the same bike Lacy Jones rode at the Chili Six Days in 2007 where the US women won the Women's World Cup and the bike endured six days of grueling dust and rocks.

Since then (2007) the engine has not been freshened up and is still running the same piston and rings. Over the last 2 months it has been ridden in 3 harescambles and 2 enduros plus about 30 hours of play riding without a hiccup.

GasGas 200s are amazing bikes, especially in tight nasty rocky condtions like are found in Akeley, MN. Up until this year I was totally convinced the bike for myself was a EC300 with the big lazy ignition. This EC200 (with the same heavy ignition) has changed my opinion on that choice.