BILLYBURNS
New member
Hello,
I have wanted to post a thread before someone else did so here goes.
My ISDE experience was unbelievable and whatever I do or don't do in the future will have NOTHING to do with the fact that my swingarm broke. I was the luckiest Gas GAs rider in Greece. The factory hand built my bike (as promised) and the problems that I had were my fault not the bike. Day 1 and 2 I had a clutch overheating problem, my fault for not changing the gearing for the steep hills. Day 3 I got a hole in my front tire, again my fault for not changing it the day before. Day 4 the swing arm broke, again my fault for picking a bad line and landing on the rock. Sure maybe it shouldn't happen, it has onlt happened twice with Gas Gas. I was the lucky one who became famous for breaking a swingarm. Not exactly how I wanted to become famous but it happened. For the record, my bike was great. The motor and suspension was amazing. I just should have trusted myself and geared it like my bikes back here in the USA. I didn't until day 5 and then the clutch was fine. The in course of climbing the mountain we went up 6000 ft and that should give you all and idea of just how steep that the mountain got in places.
Many people know that I rode a KTM at last weeks New England enduro. A good friend of mine, Brooks Hamilton (the East Coast Sales Rep for KTM), gave me an opportunity to try a brand new 2009 KTM 250 xc and I will try it again this weekend at the Rocktoberfast Enduro as I want to be able to compare it to my Gas Gas in the rocks. Mark Berg from Go-Faster's has made me a very good offer for next season but so has Brooks and KTM. I want to make it very clear to everyone who knows me that this is a very tough decision for me to make. I truley believe that I can ride any bike pretty good reguardless of what name is on the bike. I like my Gas Gas for different reasons than I like the KTM. That being said everyone who knows me can guess just how much I spend on racing each year.(to much) At age 40 I have certain goals for myself and I realize that riding at the level at which I want to ride at will soon be over. This means that I will probably be taking what is the best deal for me and not necessarily what others would like me to do. This is very hard for me as it goes against my personal principles. I believe that it isn't just about the best deal but instead more about the relationship. KTM didn't step up last year but now they have and it is mostly because of my relatioship with Brooks. Gas Gas was amazing at the ISDE and Mark and Steve have done the best that they can with a small budget in 08. I have loved running the National Enduro series and together we won a National Title in the A-200 class. We are currently sitting second in the New Endland Enduro Series (behind Brooks) and my Gas Gas has been very good to me in the rocks! I will be making a decision in the next week as to how I will finish out my 2008 season and what I will be doing for 2009.
Thank you to everyone who has been a supporter in my quest to reach my racing goals for 2008. I could not have done any of this without my sponsors or my friends and supporters. This has been a dream season for me and it is nearing the end with only 4 enduros to go.
Respectfully,
Billy Burns
I have wanted to post a thread before someone else did so here goes.
My ISDE experience was unbelievable and whatever I do or don't do in the future will have NOTHING to do with the fact that my swingarm broke. I was the luckiest Gas GAs rider in Greece. The factory hand built my bike (as promised) and the problems that I had were my fault not the bike. Day 1 and 2 I had a clutch overheating problem, my fault for not changing the gearing for the steep hills. Day 3 I got a hole in my front tire, again my fault for not changing it the day before. Day 4 the swing arm broke, again my fault for picking a bad line and landing on the rock. Sure maybe it shouldn't happen, it has onlt happened twice with Gas Gas. I was the lucky one who became famous for breaking a swingarm. Not exactly how I wanted to become famous but it happened. For the record, my bike was great. The motor and suspension was amazing. I just should have trusted myself and geared it like my bikes back here in the USA. I didn't until day 5 and then the clutch was fine. The in course of climbing the mountain we went up 6000 ft and that should give you all and idea of just how steep that the mountain got in places.
Many people know that I rode a KTM at last weeks New England enduro. A good friend of mine, Brooks Hamilton (the East Coast Sales Rep for KTM), gave me an opportunity to try a brand new 2009 KTM 250 xc and I will try it again this weekend at the Rocktoberfast Enduro as I want to be able to compare it to my Gas Gas in the rocks. Mark Berg from Go-Faster's has made me a very good offer for next season but so has Brooks and KTM. I want to make it very clear to everyone who knows me that this is a very tough decision for me to make. I truley believe that I can ride any bike pretty good reguardless of what name is on the bike. I like my Gas Gas for different reasons than I like the KTM. That being said everyone who knows me can guess just how much I spend on racing each year.(to much) At age 40 I have certain goals for myself and I realize that riding at the level at which I want to ride at will soon be over. This means that I will probably be taking what is the best deal for me and not necessarily what others would like me to do. This is very hard for me as it goes against my personal principles. I believe that it isn't just about the best deal but instead more about the relationship. KTM didn't step up last year but now they have and it is mostly because of my relatioship with Brooks. Gas Gas was amazing at the ISDE and Mark and Steve have done the best that they can with a small budget in 08. I have loved running the National Enduro series and together we won a National Title in the A-200 class. We are currently sitting second in the New Endland Enduro Series (behind Brooks) and my Gas Gas has been very good to me in the rocks! I will be making a decision in the next week as to how I will finish out my 2008 season and what I will be doing for 2009.
Thank you to everyone who has been a supporter in my quest to reach my racing goals for 2008. I could not have done any of this without my sponsors or my friends and supporters. This has been a dream season for me and it is nearing the end with only 4 enduros to go.
Respectfully,
Billy Burns
