The Dirt Biker Chronicles

Can you imagine yourself beating a factory sponsored Pro in a one-on-one race? If you’ve ever watched a Pro with your own eyes, and your honest with yourself, the answer is “no”. They’re just too fast.

But it could happen. Under the right circumstances, it could happen. Remember Aesop’s fable, the Tortoise and the Hare? The moral is, the faster one doesn’t always win.

That was the scenario on Saturday night, April 19. The circumstances were just right. The setting was the debut party for Hot Pipes Magazine.

Earlier in the week, Dave Gomez had ranted to me how touchy it is to start his wife’s KTM SX250. He said, “I’m gonna have David Kamo ride that KTM and race him two laps around the field by my house. I’ll beat him because he won’t be able to get that P.O.S. started.”

At the time, I thought it was just talk. I didn’t believe such a race would really occur.

If you don’t know who David Kamo is, he’s one of KTM’s newly sponsored Off-Road Pro racers. He’s a local Idaho phenom of growing fame who races the Pro Class in series like the Hare and Hound, Best of the Desert, WORCS, and ISDE. He also makes some appearances at the local SIDRA (Southern Idaho Desert Racing Association) races where he blows the locals away; guys like Gomez, who has been lapped by Kamo more than once.

When Saturday night’s party rolled around David Kamo was in attendance. Tamera Gomez told him about her husband’s boast, and to the delight of the party, Kamo was happy to give Dave a shot to prove his statement.

As the party crowd walked up the street to the field, Gomez made sure the bikes were pushed all the way. He didn’t want that KTM warmed up at all.

The anticipation grew as the two racers lined up on the starting line. The race course was a flat single-track trail running across an old farm field with two long straight-away’s and two long corners on the ends. Once around was about a 1/2 mile I’d guess.

Dan Wilken started the race. Gomez got his YZF450 started right up and took off as fast as he could. As he hoped, Kamo didn’t get the KTM started on the first kick. Or the second. But a few quick kicks later he got it started.

Gomez had nearly a half lap lead when Kamo got going.  Dave was riding as fast as he could too. Tresa Worrell later said, “I’ve haven’t seen Gomez ride that fast in a SIDRA race.”

But Kamo was riding that SX250 for all it was worth. He had it wide open rounding the long corners. It was amazing watching him speed through them, leaning into the turn so much his handlebar nearly scraped the ground. He looked like a road racer taking a corner. And it was on the corners where he gained the most on Gomez.

Gomez still held the lead coming around for the second lap, but it was down to about a third of the loop. Kamo steadily gained and as he rounded the last turn of the second lap, he was closing in.

There is 10-foot wide wash right before the finish line. Gomez had to slow down for it and that’s where I thought Kamo would get him. But Kamo had to slow down too and Gomez got through the wash and shot across the finish line first by a couple of seconds.

He had beaten a Pro. His ploy had played out perfectly. If it had been three laps instead of two, no question Kamo would have beat him. If Kamo had got the bike started three seconds earlier he would have beat him.  On this evening, though, the timing and circumstances worked out perfectly for Dave Gomez, and he got his bragging rights. The tortoise had beaten the hare.

Filed under: The Dirt Biker Chronicles on April 23rd, 2008