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~~ rhar.e.scrambles Laughlin. NV· February 12. 2000 Best In The Desert Silver State Series ROUND 1: Laughlin, NV Nick Pearson took 45 minutes to complete the 24-mile first half of the figure eight and had opened up a 30second, time-adjusted lead by the time he handed the Yamaha to David Pearson at the first pit. Brian Brown, ad left th,e line in seventh, is m Green-backed . was in the fast, choppy stuff; I hang on too tight and my hand goes numb." The Cooper/Gosnell Yamaha was comfortably ahead of its nearest 250cc Pro rival in sixth at the end of the first complete figure eight. Caselli and Calkins had started to open up a margin on Matt Murphy and David Rees in the 125cc division, and the Yamaha piloted by Paul Krause and Garth Sweetland was heading up the Four Stroke class. ·We were having a great ride and ~ e worked good, but the course was probably the toughest one I've ever ridden as far as being tight and twisty," said Krause. "It was tough, too, because it was so dusty. Even with the wind, it was really silty and you were fighting to get through traffic," Scott Morris was fighting just to stay in the race. "I was trying to go the whole first ~~~~P~-~44; miles-without pitting, which ·t have been a problem, but I fiD'i:wt of gas at the bottom of the big UphIll just before the pits," said Morris, i:: starting grid, which gave them an important edge in the unusually dry, dusty desert. Nick Pearson's brother and barely able to walk when the race was over, but the team's painstakingly established lead saw them through. "Wow, this is really great," said 16-year-old David, after he took the checkered flag and had some of the cactus spines removed from his nether regions. "This is the biggest win I've ever had. Before this, the best I'd done was fourth overall at Terrible Town the year before last. This was my first race on a Four Stroke Open, too. I used to ride a KTM250." Russ had broken his arm at the Adelanto Grand Prix a week before the race, so Yamaha hotshot Ty Davis The lure of infamously tight trails, plus after-race gambling at the casinos that line the Colorado River, drew was scrambling to find a last-minute partner, and structural gremlins had gone to work on the Open Pro class KX250 piloted by the top-ranked Kawasaki duo of Destry Abbott and Brian Brown. But it was riding ability, determination and a very tough hide that turned good fortune into a 13.-minute winning margin for the Pearsons. The Yamaha duo had the time-adjusted as well as the physical lead from the moment the race began and kept a hard-charging, trouble-free ride going until Lady Luck turned both thumbs down just before the finish. With less than 10 miles to go, David Pearson put the bike down for the first time in the race and slid into cactus. His backside-first assault on the spiny hazards left him unable to sit down 170 entries for the 15th annual running of what has long been regarded as the toughest event in the Best in By ANNE VAN BEVEREN PHOTOS BY TOM VAN BEVEREN Lady Luck wasn't just smiling on Nick Pearson and his cousin David Pearson at the start of the U.S. Hare Scrambles Championship Team Race near the gambling resort of Laughlin, Nevada, she was positively grinning. The Yamaha YZ426F-mounted duo had the number one spot on the 46 MARCH 1, 2000' c u e I e the Desert's five-race Silver State Series. And this year's course lived up to its fearsome reputation. "You'd better get in the gym if you want to go at Laughlin," said Jerry Bernardo, who shared a 125 Pro Class Yamaha with Kris Keefer. Spectators were bundled up to ward off a cool breeze when the race began at 7.30 a.m. and thick, gray clouds loomed overhead. Nick Pearson was hard on the gas as he led the way into the first half of the 47 -mile figure-eight course. The rest of the field followed, one bike at a time every 20 seconds, and the racers knew right from the start that they were in for a grueling ride. n e .... s who was teamed with Jimmy Roberts" son of desert legend J.N. Roberts, in the Over-30 Pro division. "I had to push it all the way up and over the hill ~ I lost about a million places. It ~Iy took like 40 minutes." -'1ii-obIems were also afoot for John ny Campbell. who had taken a fPV.....-*1?65 0 'J'TIStaab haJrwa Lehman KX500 was running sixth, through the loop. "Tim did a real good and three 125cc teams were almost job and brought the bike back in fifth. neck 'n neck for seventh overall, I got on and just tipped over in the despite getting under way from way first wash - just clipped a bush and fell back around 25th on the starting grid. down, and it smashed my toe between "This is an absolutely awesome the footpeg and the bush," said course for this bike. Just look where Campbell. "It took a while for me to we're running overall," said Kurt Caselget going again and every time I had to upshift it hurt. I was kind of sore." li, who was teamed with Cole Calkins on a KX125. "Any time we're this high, Out in front, the Pearson duo was still enjoying a trouble-free ride. you know it's a tight course." But out in front, the Pearson duo believed it "We had no problems at all for the was advantage big bike. first two-and-a-half laps," said Nick "A big four stroke is not a disadPearson. "We hadn't fallen and vantage at all out here. In fact, I think putting gas in the bike was all we'd it's an advantage, if anything," said done in the pits. We didn't even Nick Pearson. "This thing has such change a tire." smooth power compared to a two By the end of the second lap of the stroke, plus it soaks up the bumps figure-eight course, the Pearsons were and it doesn't bounce off the rocks." three minutes ahead of the By the end of his half of the first Abbott/Brown Kawasaki on adjusted figure eight, David Pearson had time and had pulled out a sizable marstretched the lead to a minute and a gin over the Davis/Blackwell Yamaha, which was still hanging onto third. half over the Abbott/Brown Kawasaki. Davis had a three-and-a-half "I really dug us a hole when I got minute hurdle to overcome back in on the bike," said Blackwell, who third when he handed the Yamaha to took over from Davis for the first half Blackwell for the first time, and the of lap two. "I'm from West Virginia, Chiapuzio/Lehman Kawasaki was six so this is quite a bit different for me. minutes behind the leaders in fourth It wasn't so much the cactus, it was overall. Mike Healey and Larry Roejust the high speed and trying to read seier had worked their way through to the terrain. I'm not used to that but I the front of the Over-30 Pro field and had a good ride." were running fifth in the physical The Chiapuzio/Lehman Kawasaki standings. dashed through pit row in fourth over"We were on a KX250 and it was so all, confirming that the KX500-mountmuch fun on that bike," said Roeseler. ed duo had made a sound decision "I was just railing some of that stuff like when they selected their bike. a 125, knowing I had to be making "Casey [Folks] changed the rules time on the bigger bikes. My problem and he's letting you ride anything you