Ducati Doubles Down With V2R Victory
S
ince its 1996 debut, Best In
The Desert's 30th annual
Casey Folks Vegas-to-Reno
"The Other Way," presented by
Camburg/Magnaflow, serves as
a flagship race on the BITD and
American Off-Road Champion
-
ship calendar and is one of the
premier long-distance desert
races in North America. For the
special anniversary, the race
dubbed "V2R" would switch
directions, starting just outside
of Reno in Dayton and heading
south for 505 miles through
the Nevada desert to finish just
outside of Las Vegas in Crystal.
Averaging 65 mph, the Hero Rac
-
ing/Malcolm Smith Motorsports
trio of Ciaran Naran, Cody Simp-
son and Callum Norton topped
the overall motorcycle standings
and finished third vehicle overall
with a time of 7 hours, 44 min-
utes and 26 seconds.
The race began on Wednes-
day in Dayton with Time Tri-
als determining the starting
order for Friday's main race. A
four-mile loop challenged the
competitors, but JCR Honda's
Preston Campbell (N3) took
the top spot and first starting
position for Friday's main race.
Hero Racing's Ciaran Naran (N2)
settled for second, less than
one second off Campbell's time,
while Norman Racing Husqvar
-
na's Shane Logan piloted the N1
machine to the third spot. Pro
Circuit Kawasaki's Dalton Shirey
(N46) and Caiden Fenstermaker
(N13) rounded out the top five
Open Pro motorcycle qualifiers.
At 5:55 a.m. Friday morning,
Campbell and his JCR Honda
CRF450X made first tracks in
the wet Nevada desert after
overnight rains soaked much of
the upper portion of the race
-
course. Heavy rain had washed
out roads and tore down some
markers, making it tricky for
racers to push the pace. But the
sunny skies and lack of dust in
the morning allowed for impec
-
cable racing to kick things off.
Early on, Naran and the Ducati
Desmo450 EDX proved to be
the fastest of the bunch, slowly
WIND
IN THE
P60
Ciaran Naran,
along with Ducati
teammates Cody
Simpson and Callum
Norton, claimed the
overall win at the
annual Vegas-to-
Reno race, which was
run in the opposite
direction this year.
PHOTOS: HARLEN FOLEY
