Its been a while. Mark stuck with the TXC310 through 2014 and barely made enough races to finish in the points for the season due to an April mishap at China Hat.

Over the winter he pickup up a GasGas EC300 from BMP, but he also picked up a plumbing business....which is seriously cutting into riding time.  Nonetheless, Watson Suspension massaged the Zokes up front and the Reiger shock (nice stuff inside, says Tom) and Mark has gone 3 for 3 with a first at the Eddieville Spring opener, first at the China Hat ISDE and first at the YCMC Prineville GP.

What's next?

It's silly season in Husqvarna land.
We have a WR250, TXC511 and TXC310R in the stable......
Then a few months ago BMW sold Husqvarna to the KTM group.......

Will Mark be riding a flashy blue/yellow/white TE300? (coming to the US in Spring '14)


or will we run one of the trusty red/white steeds in 2014?

'13 TXC310R

 or '11 TXC511

or '11 WR250 (barely used....)

24 Hours of Starvation Ridge October 2013

For something a little different and pushing the envelope a bit...Mark joined the 50 Expert team that Chuck Worley formed for the 2013 24 Hours of Starvation Ridge. I went along to help in the pits...and try to stay awake. Chuck did a great job building a team of Oregon's best 50 Expert riders: Mark (GP #1), Chuck Worley, Tom Hazel, Jeff Nicolson, Jim Tully (XC #1), David Winters (XC and GP #2). Everyone was well prepped, the pit crew did a great job, the bikes all ran great, accidents were kept to a minimum. We had one lighting issue to resolve on Jim's new EXC 350 (wire it to the battery!, bypass the harness) and NO FLAT TIRES. As pit guy I was dreading flats, I hate flats...but flats were my job. Daniel Winters and I kept time on our team and the defending champions just across the way....as we methodically wore them down and build up nearly a full lap (40 mins) cushion as the 10 am Sunday finish approached.

Chuck and Mark waiting for Mark to go out.


Transponder belt switch....great teamwork by all.


Yes, it did get dark....


Great run by a great team... now to recover.

2013 Season Wrap up

The 2013 OMRA GP season wrapped up with a double header day by NORA at Territorial MX park near Junction City (Cheshire), OR. Mark, however was not their as he had secured his 3rd consecutive GP 50 Expert crown at the Shedd Cowbell GP the week before. After several weeks in a row of racing he decided to give himself and his wallet a rest. In the best 8 of 10 series Mark had 7 First Points finishes and 1 Second (and non-points rider Chuck Worley snuck in there a couple of times) 1R HUSQ Mark Johnson Bend OR 590 16R KTM David Winters Bend OR 550 76R HUSQ Nelson Lyon Milwaukie OR 355

September 2013 Update

Its been a while since we've posted anything, but we haven't been resting on our laurels.

Over the Spring and Summer months weve been participating in OMRA and other races and Mark has been racking up points.

OTBG Eddieville	NORA Prineville	OTBG Starvation Ridge	OTBG Eddieville	SCTR Shedd	OTBG Eddieville	Mt.Scott Jagow	SCTR Shedd	NORA Territorial GP 60 A.M.	NORA Territorial GP 60 P.M.
75	75	75	75	65	75	9/22	10/5	10/13	10/13

OMRA GP: 5 wins, 1 second so far.  Best 8 scores count, Mark leads the series.

And we hit a few XC races too.

1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 4th ..... with a bit of luck there is a chance to finish in the points with 2 races remaining

One non-OMRA GP race at Washougal on Fathers Day....and another 1st.

Weve also been doing some bike shuffling...recently traded the TXC449 dualsport rig for a slightly used Husqvarna WR250 which we may give a break-in at the October 26-27, 24 Hours of Starvation Ridge Team Endurance race.  Also picked up a vintage 1984 Husqvarna CR250; its all there but needs some TLC before we give it some exercise.

Current Husqvarna fleet: '13 TXC310R, '11 TXC511, WR250, '84 CR250

China Hat ISDE, April 27-28, 2013

China Hat ISDE For a little change of pace we went to the China Hat ISDE the weekend of April 27-28. Saturday Mark and I and a couple of friends went out for a warmup ride in the Poker Run. Unfortunately Mark and Robert, the 2 fast guys in the group, wandered off on an extra 20 miles of trail and Mark rolled in on a flat front tire. Turns out this was an omen... Mark, Robert and Zach had an early minute for the ISDE on Sunday and got out of the chute AOK. The first 50 miles look went fine with the TXC310 handling the dry,high speed conditions in style. But the second loop a rear flat attacked, ending Marks day. No Gold Medal this year.
 

Mark on the left buying a new OHV sticker,
Lonny resting from the hard day of OMRA signup on the right.
 



Mark tried for some style points on the start..
 

FMF Powercore and 'Open Pipe' map

Weve had a brief break in the OMRA racing series so decided it was time to mount up the FMF Powercore slip-on (header and insert are on order). Bill at BMP told us that they have an 'open pipe' map that should work nicely with the FMF pipe so we trekked to Salem last weekend, commandeered the shop and Dave and Adam to set up the new map. It's all downloaded and the 310 has quite the roar now.Sounds like Ryan Villopoto's 450 Kawasaki, not something called an X-lite redhead. Double header at Starvation Ridge on April 13-14. Mark plans to ride both the GP on Saturday afternoon and the longer XC on Sunday morning. Rumor has it that one of the few guys to beat him last year (on the 511 at the ultra-tight Shedd course) will be at Starvation for a rematch. I just realize we dont have any pictures with the FMF....Need to take care of that soon.