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/128624
T he next mo rni ng's start w a s , thankfully , closer to to wn , so a 4 :00 or 4 :30 a .rn. wake -up ca ll s uffice d for man y. Da y three 's 269 -mile c o u rse b egan with a fa s t run n orth before turni ng e ast a nd h itt in g pi t o ne a t S hel bou rne Station , conti nui ng east into the m ountains th en turning north fo r Lages Sta tio n , anothe r mounta in loop e as t t o Do ll y Va rd en and a m e anderin g northwest trot to finish at Ruby Valle y. Mu ch o f t he d a y see med ve ry familiar to thos e who to ok part in the Nevada Ral ly . Thos e seeing the sights for th e first time enj oyed glanc ing at t he s cen ery wh en possible, as they rod e past things like ca ve s and a gh o s t t o wn. "I didn 't h a v e tim e to look a t th e sce nic tou r, but th er e we re som e fun sec tio ns up in the m oun tai ns," S t a a b sai d . "Mo s t o f it was re a lly , re a lly fas t today , b ut t h er e we re some re all y cool sections I rode t h a t we n t up over some mo un tai n pe aks th at wer e rea lly fun [and] te ch nic al. It wa s cool riding , for s u re ." Abbott/ Brown won their third day in a row, this time in 4:22:33 to the 4 :25 :52 fo r Campbell/Sta ab. Hengeveld /Street were agai n third (4 :29 :51), followed by Bozarth /Fol k s (4 :36 :4 8 ) a nd fe llow O ve r -30 Pr o s Da rr o l Brow n/K e v in Brown (4:45 :53) on an XR650R . " Ho n e s tl y, I' d h a v e fi g ure d it wasn't g o in g to g o thi s s mooth ly ," Abb ott a d m itted , th ough th e y encounte red some br a ke fa de during th e day . T he y also didn ' t have th e lux ury o f s impl y cr uising. as t h e y fou nd out: "T he p a c e is a lo t fas ter tha n I th ou ght it was goi ng to be, with Ca m p bell a nd Sta a b an d th e othe r Honda team [pu shing us ]," Aft er an o vernight sto p in Elk o, d a y four sta rted with a q uick 32 mile s fo llo wed by a tr a nsfer sec tion on a fe w m iles of h ighwa y, restarting just south of Pa lis ade . The cours e he a ded we st/s outhw e st throu gh lots o f fa s t c a nyo ns and fini s he d a t Salt We lls a fte r 298 miles . Injuries hit a coup le of the top con te nders on da y four with S taab fa lling and b re a k ing fo ur bo n e s in his left foot after pit five , though he was able to ride to th e fin ish by shifting with h is heel. Houck also crashed in the section and managed to lim p to the finish , but the resulting bro ken collarbo ne p recluded a ny poss ibility of him ridin g th e fina l two days . As wa s b ecom ing o ld news , Abbott/Br o wn topped t he results sheet with a time of 4 :47 :55 while Camp be ll/Staab h eld onto second with their 4 :51 :3 1. He ngeveld/Street maintained third w it h a 4:5 5 :36, Bozar th / Fo lks ( 5 : 11 :06) a nd t he Bro wn bro th e rs (5: 17 :04) again round ing out the top five . At th e work/i m pound area in the Reno Hilton p arki ng lot th at afternoo n , t he lead in g Kawasaki finally got some m ajo r p re venta tive m a in - (Top) Pit stops are a vital part of desert racing, and Honda's crews made sure Jonah Street (pi ctured) and everyone e lse on the red bikes received good, qu ick service. Street and partner Steve Hengeveld were second overall. (Above) With the race amounting to six different desert races in a row, every bike needed some attention. Here, Ric k Bozarth (left) and Daryl Folks prepare to freshen up their KTM 300 in Reno at the end of day three. Their preventative maintenance helped them win Over 30 Pro and finish a remarkable third overall (and first two-stroke). tenance, though it sounded as though it wa s ready to go th e entire distance with nothing more than a ir filter , tire and brake pad c h a ng e s . Me c h a n ic s re placed the top e nd , re eds , clutc h a nd fo rk as a securi ty meas u re , th ou gh ; th e y 'd sw a p t h e s hock th e ne xt a fte rnoo n in o rder to have fre s h s uspension for the rough est day . Most other teams followed suit with midrace maintenance to replace those parts th at might have a s horter service life than 1500 ha rd ra ce m ile s - a nd th ese w ere ha rd mil e s , espe cia lly o n eng ines. Da v is / Pe a rs o n finally broke for good , ha ving spent each afternoon te ari ng d o wn th e ir b ik e ' s moto r to re pla c e this o r fix that. (Abo ve ) Destry Abbott pow e rs out of the first pit (Shelboume Station) on day three. He and partner Brian Brown led the standings for the first four days on their Team Green KX500 un til Abbott received a concussion earty on day five. They stili finished third in class. (Above left) The Bill Maxim/Ross W illiams duo topped Over 40 Pro and w ere 12th overall . "T he course is real fa st, and it's not li ke riding an event that's fully whooped out and all that stuff," Wi lliams sa id . "Ca sey did a great jo b; it's a great race." At th is point, Abbott / Brown seemed like sure winners. Their bike was holding up splendidly, and they were outriding the field . To stack the deck m o re in the ir favo r, Ca m p bell, Staab a nd seve ra l ot hers we re st rick e n th at night with eit he r th e flu o r food poisoning. It hit Ca m pbe ll the ha rdest, leav ing him in no sha pe to ra c e the final two days (which includ ed both the longest and roughest da ys ), especially having to do it by himself. Howeve r, T e a m G re en's luck changed in the early part o f da y five (302 mile s fro m Da yton to Tonopah ), a nd for th e wo rst. On a fa st, straight, rolling di rt roa d betwe en p its two and three, Abbott la unched off one rolle r and s la m m ed into the next at s peed. He collapsed on the b ik e fro m th e c ue I e impact, hitting the s teeri ng dampe r with h is c hin, whi c h le ft h im wit h a la c eration , a hole in his tongu e an d a conc u ssion. Tho ug h h e re porte dly didn 't crash fro m it, he slowed down and the n fell over. A co uple s pectator s re a c hed h im ju st a s Cam p b e ll, the n S tr eet , ro de n .. vv S • AUG U S T 2 , 2000 37