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finally win Vegas to Reno; it's a race I've wanted to win." Defending race champ Johnny Campbell (who won it with Tim Staab in '01; last year Best In The Desert ran the Nevada 1000 instead) came from behind to place second overall and in the Open Pro class with Steve Hengeveld in 8: 15:49 on their Precision Concepts/Dunlop/VP Fuelsbacked XR650R. The other Team Green KX500 of Brian Brown and David Pearson finished third in 8:34:26 on their machine, which was then drove the 100-plus miles to the Del Pueblo truck stop on U.S. Highway 93 in the early-morning dark for the 5: 15 a.m. start. The defending series champions had earlier drawn the first starting position, and Abbott took full advantage as he set off from Alamo, saying, "I was feeling pretty good and wanted to try to put some time on the rest of the teams early on in the race." Brown started 30 seconds later, followed by KTM's Joey Lanza then Hengeveld. At the last Vegas to Reno in 2001, Chris Blais soloed to the Ironman Expert win and was 15th overall. This year, he soloed to the Four-Stroke Pro win and was fourth overall. slowed by a flat rear tire and then a dirty spark plug which proved to be an elusive gremlin to track down. As is his preference, Christopher Blais shared his Blaisracing.com/MidCities Honda/Pro Honda Oils XR650R with no one, but it didn't prove to be much of a handicap, as he placed fourth overall and won the Fourstroke Pro class in 8:53:26. Daryl Folks and Elmer Symons rounded out the top five overall and were the second Four-stroke Pros in 9:04:07 on their Sportsman Cycles/Dunlop/ Best in the Desert Racing Association KTM450 MXC. Though it's called Vegas to Reno, this edition of the race - round five of Best In The Desert's Silver State Series - could more accurately be dubbed the Alamo to Dayton dash, and the first half of the course especially included new terrain for a V-R (much of it as part of last year's Nevada 1000). Most of the 110 motorcycle and A TV teams stayed in Las Vegas for the pre-race activities And where the dust would simply hang in the air. "I knew I just needed to stay with everybody - don't make any mistakes because it was real easy to blow turns up there," Cambell continued. "Once we dropped back onto the flats, our bike's so much faster, we kind of gained some back, but then it'd kind of tighten up again, and we'd lose a little bit." The first pass among the leaders By the time Abbott reached pit one at Pahroc Summit 41 miles away, he'd pulled a bit of time over Brown 1:45, unofficially - with Lanza running a couple minutes behind and Hengeveld a few minutes back of the KTM. A long gap followed before Blais came in followed by Symons. Dust off the start proved to be the biggest factor in the race among the front-runners, with those behind lamenting their fate. "It was the same old thing - no wind this morning, and they ran us through a bunch of canyons [where the dust just hangs in the still morning air]," Hengeveld noted. "I just got held up. I wasn't able to make the passes that I wanted to make as quick as I wanted to make. I just kind of kept chugging along." Campbell got on at pit two (mile 58), the first time the Honda had pitted. "As soon as I got on, it got pretty tight immediately," he reported, "and we went up in the mountains [where] it was real tight and twisty." backed 525 MXC into the winners' circle, though they'd eventually get going and at least finish to pick up valuable points. That put the Honda into third place, and soon Hengeveld could see dust from the second-place Kawasaki. After getting a new wheel and air filter at pit seven (mile 242), Hengeveld ran down Brown quickly, unaware that Brown was battling a rear flat and bike that was running poorly. .'1'1'" ............ - . . . ._ _ t-2111 . - -....... Pro ........... .... tIftII ftenlH, r••p.ctlvelw. _ _subbed for an In,IwecI Paul Kra. . . on the Daryl Folks KTMteam. took place when Kurt Caselli pulled off the side of the course with a dead KTM at mile 183. It was the victim of a fried lower stator in the ignition, ending their hopes of putting the FMF/GPR/Michelin- "Leaving pit seven, I got a flat," Brown revealed, "so I rode most of that section with a flat. [The Honda] gained about five minutes on us, and I came in about 45 seconds ahead of them at pit eight (mile 270 outside of Tonopah)." n e _ s • JULv16,2003 47