Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127686
" ~f~R~a~StateSerMis' Round 4: Tonopah 30Q C Team Race 'ship A - 22 I AVIS TI-IE UNbEATAbEduo By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren TONOPAH, NV, SEPT.10 hen the two hottest riders in the Western desert join forces for a team race; there's not much that anybody can do to stop them from taking the checkered flag. Racers at the Tonopah 300 Champion ship Tea m Race knew they were in trouble as soon as Danny Hamel and Ty Davis mailed in their combined entry form . And their fears were confirmed the minute the race began. A hard-on-the-gas sprint by Hamel had the Kawasaki KX500 duo a minute and a half ahead at the end of the first 40 miles, and their w in ning margin just continued to grow. By the halfway point in the 240-mile race, Hamel and Davis were 20 minutes ahead of the nearest competition and they had settled into a W E , • confident cruise mode that included time out to wave to the specta tors as each new lap began. "Our strategy was for Hamel to ride hard in the first loop and for me just to cruise in my sections," said Davis, with a smile. "Wait a minute," Hamel retorted. "I thought it was the other way round you were supposed to ride hard and I was going to cruise." Despite their joking confusion about pre-race. strategy, th ere was no confusion about the results at end o f the fourth round of the Best in the Desert's Silver State race series. When the checkered flag fell after six hours and 10 minutes of racing, Hamel and Davis had taken the overall honors, and the $525 check for winning the Open Pro division, by a stunning 25 minutes. "We had no problems at all, which is a key thing in any race, and it was a lot of fun," said Hamel. Cool morning air and a ligh t breeze greeted the race rs as the y lined up for the start of the race on the outskirts of Tonopah - a min ing town about fourhours ' dri ve north of Las Vegas. The starting line's 6000-foot elevation had many of the racers up early for some last-minute jetting adjustments but everyone was looking forward to the brand new course laid out by Best in the Desert organizer Casey Folks . "It's 100% new, which is good for two reasons," said Folks. "One is that it takes a little of the impact off the area, and two , is that the more area we can open up for riding, the better the future of the sport will be. In this day and age you don't have a new course ve ry often." The figure-eight course consisted of a 3B-mile loop to the south followed by a Ty Davis takes over fo r Danny Hamel at one of the gas stops. The Kawasaki duo was never challenged th rou ghout the 240mile race. 39-mile loop to the north. The racers had to complete the figure eight three times for a total of 240 miles . The ribboned t rail followed sa nd washes and two-track roads most of the way, with five m il es of vi rgin cross country terrain thrown in for good measure. "Yo u ' re not ever going to get 80 miles of virgin terrain because of th e BLM regulations," Folks explained. "Virgin course has to be walked by an archaeologist and you have to pa y-for that. Last year I paid $1000 for five miles of new course." The drawing for starting positions put Greg Zitt erkop f' s Open Pro class