Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128616
B e s t in th e D esert S ilv e r S tat e S e r ie s R o und 3 : T o n o p a h 300 P HOT O S B Y R ICK L EWIS After coming up short twice so f ar this ye ar, Johnny Campbell (above) and teammate Tim Staab finally scored a win i n the Silver State Series. Their win came at the expense of the Destry Abbott/Brian Brown team (left), which finished a c lose second overall. As for the Shane esposito/David Ondas duo (be loWJ, t he pair finished third with brake problems and separated shoulder. • TONOPAH, NV, MAY 21 rmed wi th its m igh t y n e w XR650R, a nd sa crific ing t h e ~ Natio nal Ha re £, Hou nd Series in ord e r to b e tte r fo c u s it s e ffo rts , T eam Ho n da was co nf ident of it s ch ances at a c ha mpionsh ip in t his year's Be st in th e De s e rt Se rie s. But two rounds in , th e A-team of J ohnny Campbell a nd Tim Staa b had yet to p o s t a wi n , finishing six th a t the series -open ing U.S . Ha re S cramb le s Championshi p in Lau gh lin a nd a clo s e second at the Terrible's Town 250. Ca mpb e ll and Staab fa c ed th at a dversity by doin g wha t Honda do es be st - putting thei r noses to the gr ind s tone an d test ing , test ing , testing . · We lost by 52 seco nds at Ter rible 's Town: said Campbell . "We s at down a fter that and pin-p ointed a coup le of area s where we were los in g s om e thing to the other tea ms. We did a lot of te sting , a nd we found some good setu ps ." With a new exhaust s et up a nd new s us pens ion s ettings by Pre cis ion Concepts' Bob Be ll, Campbe ll a nd St a ab fe lt co nfi de n t co ming int o ro u n d th re e , a nd whe n th e y d re w th e first st art in g posi t io n, it see me d th at th ings we re sta rting to fall into pla ce . And fall into p la c e th e y d id , a s th e two coho rts led fro m sta rt to finish in a ride th a t Ca m p be ll d e s c ribe d a s "flaw less " a nd "unev entfu l." Le a ving the To n o pah rou nd , th e two fin a lly had a com fo rta ble po ints lead o ver the competition. At the mo rn ing start, te m pera tu res were cool enough that Campbell - the firs t rider out - wore a turtle neck under h is jer se y. With ve ry little wind, th e lead bike 's d ust hu ng in th e a ir, furth er th warting the c ompetit ion . Of that co m pet itio n, Hon da 's m a in wo rrie s we re t he Kawa s a ki -m ou nt e d Sh an e E sp o si t o /D a v id O n d a s a nd Brian Brow n / De s t ry Ab bott tea ms, a nd b ot h were clos e t o Ca mp be ll t hrough p its o ne and two . In fa c t , Bro wn led o n adju sted t ime at th a t p o int , t rail ing Campb e ll b y just 20 s ec onds ph ys ic all y a fter sta rting one m inut e ba c k . Ab bott got on the bike ther e , how e ver, and within five miles, he pick ed up a rea r fla t. Th at s lowed h im s ev era l m inutes in th e 50-mile sectio n, and in th e ultra -c ompet itive Best in th e De s ert S er ie s , seve ral m inu tes a re sy nonymous with s ev era l pos itions. Wit h a ne w wh e el m ounted a t pit t hree , Ab bott set o ut to m ak e up s ome time, a nd he pa sse d Esposito now s uffe ring re ar-brake pr oblems for sec ond o ut of pit four. All of this furth er aided th e lea d ing Hond a , a nd wh en S taa b got o n boa rd at the ha lfway po int at p it thr ee , the advantag e wa s t wo mi nut e s . Th e Kaw a s a k is clos ed a bit at th at poi nt , but by p it five , Ho nd a ha d about a mi nute 's lea d on a djusted time . "Th e bik e 's re a lly good ," sa id the 2 1-ye a r-o ld St aab . "Us ua lly yo u have BRIEFLY••• Honda is the only team that religiously takes advantage of the "fun- wee kend on which Best in the Desert offers riders a chance to pre-r ide the course in a controlled situatio n. Known for focus ing on doing a limited amount of things very thoroughly. the Honda team decided to make all the pre-ride weekends inste ad of contes ting the National Hare & Hound Series. _ C David O ndas cartwheeled his Kaw asaki co ming int o check two . separating hi s s ho u ld e r in the proces s. That meant teammate Shane Esposito had to ride the remainder of the race solo. which he did well enough to gamer third overall. Despite the fact that Best in the D esert c ourses mu st accommodate cars . th e Tonopah c ircuit proved popular with most riders. It was fairly high-speed with fast. graded roads and sandwashes. but there we re a couple of rocky section s that featured some vegetation. A favorite sect ion for many came afte r pit two . where the course climbed into some pine tree s. .... -- ;;;-0 Just as a non-AMA circuit (the GNCC Series) has gained in popularity and competitiveness in the eastem U .S.. the Silver State Series is arguably tighter than the National Hare & Hound Series. At each of the first three rounds so far. the win has been taken by und er a m inut e . The series' next round is the Millennium 2000 . a first-t ime event that will take place this J uly. The u ltra -e n d u ra n ce race should add an interesting element to the series . ~ Campbell and Staab att ributed much of the credit for their win to the fact that they are gelling as teammates. "We're working as a t ea m , as opposed to tw o separate riders. " said Campbell. who also mentioned that they are reaching good compromises in terms of setup. Said Staab. - I look at it one way. and he'll see it another. It' s good to have both of us in there wo rking together.- ~ '" 28 JUNE 7,2000' G U G I e - . ' n e vv s . ". Both of the top Kawasaki teams we re trying a new brake fluid at Tonopah. and both had problems when they boiled t he fluid in their rear binders. The Esposito/ Ondas team struggled much of the day with the problem. while the Abbott/ Brown squad was primarily affec ted towards . the end of the race. The two teams still finished two- three.