Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Best in the Desert Silver State Series Day David Pearson and Shane Esposito team up to take. the win STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARK KARIYA Pearson's Pro Circuit/mxsales.com/GPR KX2S0, and those two teams qUickly made the race for the lead their own. "Man, he [Pearson] was riding really well," Abbott said. "He caught me pretty early in the race, and I waved him by because he was going faster than I was. I got on him and just rode behind him. I passed him once, and he passed me back. We came in [to the pits] together, then Lance [Smail] and Shane [Esposito] took off [to ride the eastern loop] and did the same thing on that loop. They came back, and Dave took off a little ahead of me and en you're the presenting sponsor of a race, it's somewhat embarrassing if one of your riders doesn't win. But Kawasaki didn't need to worry too much about that at the Kawasaki Team Green Laughlin U.S. Hare Scrambles, round two of Best in the Desert's Silver State Series. That's because it relied on Pearson power. Team Green's David Pearson ended up winning the race for the second year in a row - to make it three total - along with partner Shane Esposito, a first-time winner, in a time of 4 hours, 48 minutes and I7 seconds for the approximately 140-mile race. Montclair Yamaha/Zip-Ty RacingiMoosemounted cousin Russell Pearson, another former winner, and teammate Ty Davis took a fairly close second overall in a time of 4 hours, 49 minutes and 25 seconds, while early leaders Destry Abbott and Lance Smail, of Team Green, completed W 56 the podium in 4 hours, 58 minutes and 23 seconds. Promoter Casey Folks laid out a course comprised of two separate loops a few miles west of town. They shared a common pit. The first loop to the east tended to feature more of the tighter technical challenges, while the western loop had a bit more of the faster ridgelines, washes and two-track. All of it, however, was in nearly perfect shape, thanks to the recent storms. In fact, it rained lightly during the first part of the race, and many washes and waterfalls actually had running water. It was not your typical desert race. The Pros got the green light at 7:30 a.m., with one rider leaving the line every 30 seconds. Abbott had drawn the first starting position and happily took the early lead on the Pro Circuit/NGK/ Dunlopbacked KX250, followed by David MARCH 23, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS I wasn't able to hang. We lost our [rear] brakes completely [after that]. We had to stop and fix that; it took a few minutes because you've got to pull off the [reserVOir] cap and bleed [the system]." When Esposito took his first shot at the western loop, he dueled with Smail the whole time. His second time out, he had a little cushion and tried adding to it. "When Iwent out, I rode a hard second loop, and I think I put a little bit of time [on Smail] - not much - but they had problems, so that put Ty [DaviS] into second." Indeed, the brake-repair session for Abbott and Smail's machine cost them enough time that the YZ250 of Davis and Russell Pearson scooted past into second, where they'd stay. "It's good to see David [Pearson] win, but I was hoping we'd be on top today," Russell said. "They kind of gapped us the whole first loop. We stayed the same from there on out. Near the end, I was riding my butt off." "It was a good race," Davis added. "The whole time it was wide open. Unfortunately, you never got to see the guy [in front of us] because we were spread out so far. It was like, i'IIm I catching him or not?' It was fun." At the finish, just over a minute separated the first two teams, with Esposito riding the final loop and his partner already out of his riding gear and ready to celebrate. "I grew up riding in tight stuff like this up in the trees," David Pearson said afterward. "I don't know; it just seems like it's [normal] for Pearsons to do good in the tight stuff." The deciding factor in the race, he felt, was, "mainly just not having problems. The other two Kawi teams [Abbott/Smail and Brian Brown/Nick Pearson, Russell's brother] had brake problems. We ended up not haVing much of a problem; they [the brakes] faded a little bit at the end, on my last loop, but they never went out. I guess they went completely out on the other Kawi teams." "Everything came together today," Esposito said. "It's about time! This is a big race, and I know there's a lot of us who've never won it; it's the first time I've won it. It's a pretty exciting day to finally win it." eN KAWASAKI TEAM GREEN LAUGHLIN U.S. HARE SCRAMBLES LAUGHLIN, NEVADA RESULTS: MARCH S, 200S (ROUND 2 OF 6) OVERALL: I. Shane Esposito/David Pearson (Kaw) 4:48: 17; 2. Ty Davis/Russell Pearson (Yam) 04:49:25; 3. Destry Abbott/Lance Smail (Kaw) 4:58:23; 4. Robby BelVKendall

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