Broc Hepler had quite the winning weekend as he not only captured his third win of the season at the inaugural Lumberjack 100 Enduro, he also got married the day prior to his fiancée, Dawn.

“We had our wedding at her Grandfather’s farm on Saturday,” Hepler said. “We had a great wedding and made it to our hotel in Steubenville at 11:15 p.m. I rode my bike into the wedding reception and some of my friends put a ‘just married’ plate on the back with some streamers on the bar ends. I just left the decoration through tech inspection.”

The enduro was held in Bergholz, OH, on July 19. Round 5 (Round 4 was postponed) featured 65 ground miles of entirely new trail in northeast Ohio.

Hepler thought it was a great idea to add a new race venue this year.

“It is great that the ACES series is open to trying new locations,” Hepler said. “It worked well with this being my closest event, at only two hours away. Plus, the trail was great. All of the single-track was new, and I loved one section that had a bunch of pine trees. That section had awesome traction with fun flowing turns through those trees.”

He said the first section was “obviously tough with it only being the A section.”

Hepler added that without much traffic, it made it easy to keep his momentum up the hills with the short runs leading into them.

“I believe it was the third section that I lost some time on,” Hepler said. “It was a hillclimb, and it had a bunch of guys stuck. I tried to get my way through, but I had to finally give up and retry the hill. So that was a section that was physically tough for me with being stuck on the hillside in traffic.”

Hepler says his plan so far has been to give it everything he has while riding under control.

“We are not even half way through the series, so I cannot let up with some of the great competitors I am facing.”

“I would like to thank my Wife, Dawn, as she was great about allowing me to race and be my chase truck the day after the wedding. Also thanks to Five Star Cycle KTM, PR2, 6D Helmets, Dunlop, Scott, Shift and FMF.

Overall A
Mike Pillar from Dover, OH, has been riding select ACES races since 2013.

“I started riding enduros because it was always a dream of mine to go to the ISDE and represent the U.S.,” Pillar said. “I got to do that on a club team for the U.S. in 2014. It’s also the most classic form of off-road motorcycle racing.”

He said the trail was awesome.

“You could definitely tell a lot of the trail was close to virgin,” Pillar said. “It was definitely pretty slippery in spots and had a lot of elevation changes, which made for some tricky sections. The most difficult section was the fourth section, because I had to ride it with a flat front tire. Luckily, I had time to change wheels at the gas stop and only had to ride the fourth test and some transfer on a flat.”

He said he usually run mousses in his tires (a tire bib) but didn’t have time to put them in for this race. He said he paid the price for that.

Pillar said he really liked that the trail was challenging in spots.

“It kept me on my toes the whole time,” he said.

He hopes to keep his momentum heading into the next round and thanked all the people who put on the race.

Overall B
Overall B winner Terry Hartman from Slippery Rock, PA, started racing ACES last year.

“I grew up riding and racing GNCCs,” Hartman said. “Some ‘old timers’ suggested I should try enduros, so in 1991 I rode my first enduro.”

“ACES puts on a high-quality race program with great trails,” Hartman said. “The Lumberjack 100 was a great mix of hills, single-track, creeks and a little mud. My plan was just to win the Senior class. Now, with two overall wins (Lumberjack and Lodi), I’m trying to win Overall B this season.”

He said he would like to thank Five Star Cycle, Ron Hartman Concrete and his pit crew: his wife, Shannon and also Dawn Hepler.

View detailed results at aces-races.com/2015-results

Seven rounds remain this season. The next round of ACES, the Jake-Tom Enduro, will be held on August 2 in Logan, Ohio. The event is hosted by the Hocking Valley Motorcycle Club. Key time is 10 a.m. Sign up will be held from 8-9:30 a.m. on race day. Primitive camping will be available at the enduro location.

Heather Wilson is a motorcycle enthusiast that rides both dirt and street bikes whenever she gets the chance. She grew up riding dirtbikes, attending local motorcycle races and helping out in her parents’ motorcycle dealership. She’s an Ohio University Scripps School of Journalism Alum and now does public relations and marketing in the motorcycle industry.  HeatherNWilson.com