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Fourteen-year-old Kyle HuckJebridge came out on
top of the Amateur racers. What's more remarkable
than his listed age is the fact that he also did it solo. He
won the Ironman Amateur division on his Walt's Motorsports/RGR/White Brothers Yamaha.
When Mike Childress finished, his Honda sported a
two-piece exhaust system - literally. The pipe cracked
completely through just behind the weld at the collector
in the header, leaving a gap of nearly a quarter inch. "It
started cracking around pit two this morning, and I was
like, 'Oh man,'" he said. "It started backfiring, so I knew
it was going to break, and it finaliy broke all the way
through, Iguess. Iguess It happened on Chuck
[Dempsey], because when Igot back on it was already
done. But that's the same pipe that we've ridden since
the [Baja] 1000. We rode the 1000, we rode Parkerwe rode a lot of races on that pipe." In addition, after
partner Dempsey's crash, only the hoses seemed to
hold the left radiator in place.
Andy Grider was physically running on fumes afterward. "We've been back [from Tunisia] two weeks," he
said. "We were pretty sore and beat up, bruised from
crashing. It took a week before I even got back on the
motorcycle because I was so sore, so I haven't had a
chance to really ride the 525 and get used to it [again]."
Campbell took the big Honda the 91 miles from pit two to
pit six and continued to stretch their lead.
"I think part of it was we got some good breaks in the
morning because some of the other teams had some trouble,
so we got a gap," he said. "When you get a gap, you're not
under as much pressure, and sometimes that makes you ride
better because you're not making mistakes [or forcing
things]."
Despite one high-speed handstand when he hit a small
ditch, Campbell had a near-flawless run, and he also put time
on the chase pack.
''''fter that, Igot into pit four [at mile I05] and saw my lead
kept [growing] every pit," Campbell said. "So I didn't push it
any more than I was going, and I felt comfortable at the pace I
was going, so I brought it into pit six and gave it to Steve. He
did most of the hard work today."
Behind them, the order shuffled around between a couple
teams. Esposito/Pearson, the second bike off the line, matched
the pace of Campbell/Hengeveld over the first miles, but then
they had electrical problems on their Pro Circuit/Moose/
Dunlop 10<500.
"The plug wire somehow ground out halfway between pit
one and pit two," Esposito said.
Pearson was on the bike at the time, and Esposito estimated they lost 30 minutes.
"We don't carry fanny packs, so I don't know how he got it
all apart," Esposito said.
But Pearson surprised them and finally did show up at the
pit, and their ride from that point was without incident.
"The rest of the day was no problem," Esposito said. "We
knew we weren't going to catch the leaders, so we just rode
and made sure we'd finish; that's important."
After Pearson and EspOSito dropped out of lead contention, Blais and Grider latched on to second spot, though
the Childress/Dempsey team got by before too long and
found themselves possibly leading overall.
"Coming into pit five, they told me I was only six minutes
behind [Campbell/Hengeveld] and started seven [minutes
back], so I'm like, 'Cool, I'm leading on time!'" Childress said.
Not too long after, however, the KTM team worked its way
back into second, and then Dempsey hit a ditch while in the
dust and crashed, breaking his collarbone. He managed to
make it to the next pit and give the bike back to Childress who
finished third overall, first in class.
For Blais and Grider, Terrible's Town was not so much a
race as a chance to get reacquainted with something less massive than the rally bikes they'd raced in Tunisia two weeks
before.
"I had kind of a rough day this morning trying to get used
to this bike after riding the rally bike for the last couple
weeks," Grider said. "This thing was so light and nimble, it
was like riding a 125. It was twitchy, and I wasn't used to it,
and I got arm pump right away and had to deal with that.
Towards the end, we got into a horsepower battle; the course
was faster than I thought. They definitely out-horsepowered
us, probably by 10 miles an hour. They had a big advantage."
More important to the winners, however, is the cushion in
points they take into the final half of the series. UnoffiCially,
they lead with 141 points, while Blais and Grider move into
second with 130. EspOSito and Pearson drop to third with
129, and Robby Bell and Kendall Norman maintain fourth at
126. The new Nevada 1000 in July kicks off that second half of
the series.
eN
TERRIBU'S TOWN 250
PAHRUMP, NEVADA
RESULTS: APRIL
30, 2005
(ROUND
3
OF
6)
OVERALl: I. Johnny CampbelVSteve Hengeveld (Han), 4:14:31; 2. Christopher
Blais/Andy Grider (KTM), 4:22:21; 3. Mike Childress/Chuck Dempsey (Hon), 4:26:54: 4.
Kendall Norman (Hon), 4:35:31: 5. Taber Murphy/Brian Pinard (Hen), 4:38:44; 6. Clint
Braurv'Man Gosnell (KTM). 4:47:28; 7. Shane Esposito/David Pearson (Kaw), 4:47:41; 8.
Charlie Bamey/Steve Pitts (ATK), 4:56:28: 9. Max Eddy JrJRodger McCabe/DaI Shemp
(KTM), 5:01: 17; 10. Michael Collins/Garvin Johnson/Kirk Stephensen (Kaw). 5:02:25.
OPEN PRO: I. Johnny CampbelVSteve Hengeveld (Han); 2. Christopher
Blais/Andy Grider (KTM); 3. Kendall Norman (Hoo); 4. Taber Murphy/Brian Pinard
(Hon): 5. Shane Esposito/David Pearson (Kaw).
FOUR·STROKE PRO: I. Mike Childress/Chuck Dempsey (Hen); 2. Clint
Braurv'Matt Gosnell (KTM).
30+ PRO: I. Nick DaJlyfTom E. Willis (Han); 2. James ErnbrolSteve LaRoza(KTM).
40+ PRO: I. Charlie Bamey/Steve Pitts (ATK); 2. Chris Kemp/Matt Shook (Hon).
OPEN EX: I. Max Eddy Jr,fRodger McCabe/Dal Shemp (KTM): 2. Scott
Herweg/Chris Ray (!