effortless yet and made up for
last year's Rimbenders point-
to-point race when he broke a
chain while leading. This year's
more traditional loop event
(61miles for the first loop and 40
for the second) presented plenty
of high-speed sections but also
included flowy sand washes,
tricky side hills and rocky de-
scents.
Shirey took it all in stride
aboard his Zip-Ty Racing/FMF/
Troy Lee Designs-backed FX
450. "I'm back on my [train-
ing] program and it's showing,"
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 13, 2020 P71
he explained. Beyond that, he
acknowledged emphasizing his
starts—a critical part of desert
racing as it's far easier to go fast
when you've got clean air.
"At these hare and hounds,
every time I come to the start, I
walk the bomb like crazy just to
really have the image in my head
because I don't want to go out in
the desert and take unnecessary
risks," he said.
Kamo actually got a great start
on his Kurt Caselli Foundation/
Motorex/Fly Racing 450 XC-F
and tucked in behind Shirey after
the bomb, but lost touch in the
first miles as they raced down a
two-track road littered with a few
tricky G-outs and ditches.
"I stayed with him across
some of the ditch crossings, but
he jumped one of them and I'm
like, 'Aww, I'm not jumping that—
there's no way!' The first one I
jumped with him. The second
one, he was already on it and
he couldn't shut off [safely] so
he went for it and barely made
it," Kamo said. "I know he runs
quite a bit stiffer suspension so
I had to back off. I know what I
can and can't do. I know I just
had to be consistent today and
not make any mistakes and try
to save everything for the last
round."
Kamo finished four minutes
and 15 seconds after Shirey's
winning 2:19:32.
Off-road Support/TBT Racing
Kawasaki rider Argubright also
enjoyed a good start and though
he flirted with Kamo's dust cloud,
he found himself unable to push
his Maxima/Galfer/Fly Racing
(Above) Team Beta
celebrates not only
Cole Conatser's
fifth Pro 250cc win
but also the class
championship.
