lead , coming in a mere six seconds ahead of Webb . But the lead was shortlived , as Webb dug deep , not only passing Robert but keeping the competition at bay for the remainder of the event .
The second lap is where things really started to get interesting . For many parts of the trail , the number of line choices was extremely limited , so riders had to weigh the pros and cons of adding a few seconds to their time by taking the safer route with taking some creative paths on rock faces and gnarly downhills and risking safety of man and machine . Sometimes the risks from taking the more creative paths paid off , as Webb showed on the second lap when confronted with a massive bottleneck of amateur riders , many of whom were still working through their first lap . But other times , the risk was too great and ended with some bent and broken machinery , such as Haaker ’ s attempt to ride around a group of amateur riders on a rock face . Haaker ended up looping out and causing a lot of damage to his bike . Impressively , Haaker was able to limp his Husqvarna through all four laps of the event , taking a fourth-place finish only 14 minutes behind Webb .
The rough sandstone rocks wreaked havoc on tires , wearing knobbies down so much that it was not uncommon for a rider to return to
VOL . 6 ISSUE 4 - APRIL 2021 // PAGE 97