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(Above) Danny Cooper (shown) and partner Andy Grider posted the fastest time on the last day, putting them on the podium In third overall. (Below) Johnny Campbell and partner Steve Hengeveld started off slowly but worked their way up to fourth at the finish. Highway 50, which the state claims is the "Loneliest Road in America." The course then skirted the Duckwater Indian Reservation. It eventually turned westward at pit four and paralleled U.S. Highway 6, cutting across the highway 130 miles later and finishing in the old mining town of Tonopah. The third and final day had the racers heading eastbound and on the south side of Highway 6 for the fust 100 miles, crossing State Route 375 just before pit three. They paralleled the Extraterrestrial Highway on the east side with lots of long, fast dirt roads across valleys. After pit five in Tikaboo Valley, the course turned east once again toward Caliente, though it headed south after the Hiko Narrows pit six and ended up some 286 miles later in Alamo. Johnny Campbell was first to get the green light, and he and partner Steve Hengeveld maintained the physical lead for over 100 miles on their Precision Concepts/Dunlop/ProHonda Oils XR650R. Russell Pearson came into pit three at 155 miles in front, on the Montclair Yamaha/ Nutec/Moose YZ426F that he shared with Ty Davis. "Russ got the lead in Panaca; he passed Johnny in a mudhole," Davis said. After that, the Yamaha duo maintained their frenzied pace to the finish and clicked off the quickest time of the day, at 6:14:51. Brown and David Pearson, third off the line, ended up second with a time of 6: 17:29, despite being slowed by a broken rear brake late in the race. Esposito, the fifth starter, came in third with a time of 6: 19:34, while Cooper/Grider and Campbell/Hengeveld rounded out the top five overall. "I'm happy to win the day and finish," Davis said. "That [to finish] was our biggest thing. Now we've finished day one and we're leading, so we can't complain." Davis and Russell Pearson played the role of the hare nearly all of day two. They were usually chased by the Brown/David Pearson duo. The top five teams remained remarkably close all day, as they separated themselves from the rest of the field. Then the Brown/Pearson team made a drive to the front. "When they gave me the bike at pit three, I think we were down by a minute and a half, and I just slowly tried to start making up time," David Pearson said. "At pit four, I think I was 45 seconds down. At pit five, I was 30 seconds down. Then, at pit six, I was 22 seconds down. So we were slowly closing the gap. It was a pretty fast course, and their Yamaha was pretty fast." Brown took his final stint of the day from pit six to the finish, about 60 miles, and managed to sneak past Davis when the Yamaha rider briefly With regular partner Destry Abbott out with an injury, Shane Esposito faced three days in the saddle with no breaks. But he was up to the challenge and finished second overall. got lost. Though Brown followed him, the Team Green racer saw Davis change direction and beat him to the finish. Brown and Pearson ended up with the day's qUickest time, at 4:47:30. Davis and Russell Pearson finished second quickest, but they needed extra time for maintenance. While the KX500 got a new ignition, exhaust system, spark plug, radiators, tires, air filter and oil, the Yamaha needed more extensive work. The bike had begun shifting poorly late in the race, so Davis decided to replace the transmission. They'd just about finished the job within the allotted time, but the cam chain skipped a couple of teeth when they tried to start the engine, which resulted in the valves and piston making contact, so the wrenches began flying again. They got the bike into (Left) Privateers Jeff Capt (shown) and Tom Willis topped the 30-Plus Pro class, finishing fifth overall. (Right) Ty Davis and teammate Russell Pearson topped the first day, but they later experienced bike problems that dropped them back to 12th overall. cue I • n _ ... Sii JULY 10, 2002 43