GasGas North America Off-road Teams saw action on both coasts as Pennsylvania’s Thorn Devlin finished a safe but solid seventh in the NE Pro1 division at this weekend’s Alligator Enduro in Ormond Beach, Florida. Meanwhile, at round four of the WORCS series in Peoria, Arizona, GasGas North America riders JT Black and Jake Alvarez finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Pro2 class, completing a successful weekend for Torrot GasGas North America.
At the Alligator Enduro in Florida, over 500 riders competed in the ruthless “sugar” sand that makes up one of the premier National Enduros in the country. It’s a true test of sand-riding ability. Being from Pennsylvania, however, sand riding is foreign to Thorn Devlin, and he admitted after the event that he was happy to have just survived the Alligator Enduro and all of its pit falls. Despite a couple of nasty crashes, Thorn brought his 2019 XC 250 home for seventh overall in the NE Pro1 class.
Thorn Devlin: It was pretty rough and I struggled all day. I had two really bad get-offs. I was going down this sand lane and just right at the end one bucked me and flipped me over the bars. It wasn’t a great day. I had two really, really bad get-offs and after that my plan was just like, ‘let’s just cruise it in’. You hate to do that, but I would rather have a bad race than be out for the season. So I was like, I’m going to do the best I can and just get through here and then healthy going into the next one.”
The GasGas North America East Coast Off-road Team returns to action on March 31st in Morganton, North Carolina for Steele Creek GNCC, round four of the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series.
ALLIGATOR ENDURO PRO RESULTS
1. Steward Baylor (KTM)
2. Russell Bobbitt (KTM)
3. Evan Smith (Hsq)
4. Grant Baylor (KTM)
5. Mike Witkowski (Bet)
6. Jake Froman (Hsq)
7. Thorn Devlin (GG)
WORCS
The West Coast GasGas North America West Coast Off-road Team claimed third and fourth place finishes in the Pro2 class at round four of the WORCS Series in Peoria, Arizona, as Jake Alvarez and JT Baker turned in solid performances on a super-dry and dusty course.
JT qualified for Sunday’s final with an eighth-place finish in his heat race after getting off to a bad start.
In the final, JT got off to a much better start and the XC300 rider was fifth by the end of lap one. Late in the race, JT battled with the third-place rider for a lap, forcing him to make a mistake, which allowed JT to claim third.
JT Baker: A couple of guys jumped the start in my qualifier and I thought they were going to restart the race so I hesitated, but then they just let everyone go, so I was almost last off the line. The start was on a concrete pad and it was pretty tricky, but I got off to a much better start in the final. Everyone ended up going wide in the first turn and I just squared it up and came out underneath. The course was tricky. The faster you went the easier it was to make a mistake so it was a juggling act, and I’m excited about my finish.
Jake Alvarez qualified sixth on Saturday to earn a berth in Sunday’s final. In the final, he moved up to fourth from a mid-pack start and rode his teammate’s coat tails to fourth.
Jake Alvarez: JT was riding awesome and I tried to stay on his rear wheel but he was just on it, so we went 3-4 for the weekend. I could make up time on JT but then I would make a mistake and lose it. I was kind of bummed because when the race was over; I felt like I could have kept going for at least another hour. I was upset with my performance because I thought I could haven finished on the podium.
ARIZONA WORCS PRO 2 RESULTS
1. Austin Walton (Hsq)
2. Clayton Hengeveld (Kaw)
3. JT Baker (GG)
4. Jake Alvarez (GG)
5. Austin Serpa (KTM)
6. Cooper Abbott (KTM)
7. Daniel Olona (Hsq)
8. Matt Maple (Hon)
9. Cameron King (Hqv)
10. Hayden Florez (Yam)
The GasGas North America West Coast Off-road Team returns to action on April 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the Orleans Arena, round five of the WORCS Series.
