SCORE WORLD DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 23 JUNE 10, 2014 P121
those two front-running squads,
though the Class 30 power-
house squad of Francisco Arre-
dondo, Ryan Dudek, Shane Es-
posito and Scott Myers latched
on to make it a three-team fight
up front. In fact, Myers pointed
out that his squad ran second
physically for a bit.
A mental lapse saw Pearson
surrender the lead to Young as
they streaked south along the
Pacific Coast with Pearson ad-
mitting: "About halfway through
my first section, we had a pretty
good lead so I tried to back her
down two or three percent, and
I ended up backing it down quite
a bit. Ian caught me and passed
me for a little while so it was
pretty intense for a little while.
I wasn't riding over my head or
anything; I was just riding pace
to transfer the bike and I was
transferring a little slower than I
should have, I guess."
When Young pitted for both
Briefly...
bet with his father — who paid for the
Precision Concepts-built KX450F —
that if they finished, Ray would get
to keep the bike. After finishing third
Open Pro, announcer George Antill
informed him an extra finisher medal
would cost $20. "It's the best $20
I've ever spent in my life!" Ray dal
Soglio exclaimed.
Besides Tony Gera in SCORE Iron-
man and Raul Hernandez in Sports-
man Motorcycle, Giovanni Spinali
added a third triumph to keep his
unbeaten streak going in Class 40.
Joining him on the Motoworld/FMF/
Dunlop-sponsored CRF450X were
Mike Carter, John Griffin and Paul
Thomas.
Jim O'Neal of O'Neal Racing added
another class win (Class 60 with Jim
Dizney, Mike Castro, Max Chris-
tensen and Robert Koch) and a
runner-up (Class 30 with Morgan
Crawford, Kevin Murphy, Gerardo
Rojas and Mark Winkelman) to
his amazing record at the 500. He
now has 17 triumphs — the same as
Ivan "Ironman" Stewart — and just
one behind all-time 500 winner Rod
Hall. O'Neal had been tied with Lar-
ry Roeseler at 16.
Though SCORE made an effort to
clear the course by sending out a
truck in the morning for the first sec-
tion and Quinn Cody rode the clos-
ing miles on his KTM, it's still impos-
sible to keep every mile of the course
clear. Ian Young reported having to
lay his bike down when a car turned
into his path and Kendall Norman's
vantage point in the THR helicopter
gave him an unnerving number of
potential incidents.
(Top left) From left: David Pearson,
Ricky Brabec and Max Eddy Jr.,
with their finisher medals — the
first competitors of the day to
receive them.
(Above) Baja veteran Scott Myers
teamed with Francisco Arredondo,
Ryan Dudek and Shane Esposito
to easily win Class 30 and finish
third bike overall.
(Left) Mark Samuels exits the San
Matias sand wash section a few
minutes behind Max Eddy Jr., en
route to an eventual second-place
finish with teammates Colton Udall
and Ian Young.
