ARREDONDO, ESPOSITO TOP VEGAS-TO-RENO
G
uatemala's Francisco Ar-
redondo is no stranger to
desert racing but usually con-
fines his efforts to south of the
border in races like SCORE's
Baja 1000.
So, when it came to picking
a partner for the 19th Annual
General Tire Vegas-to-Reno,
presented by Fox, he looked
for a combination of experience
and success, and came up with
Shane Esposito who's been on
the winning team four times in
this event's history. So what if
he's 41? He can still get the job
done—or could he?
Apparently he can because
the duo racked up V-R victory
number five for "Espo" at the
longest off-road race in the
U.S., round four of Best in the
Desert's American Off-road Rac-
ing Series.
The race got underway
outside of Beatty well before
the sun came up on Friday with
David Pearson the first to get the
green flag aboard the Bonanza
Plumbing/Precision Concepts/
Dunlop-backed KX450F he'd
share with Taylor Stevens.
The rest of the Pro field would
follow at one-minute intervals
while the Experts and Amateurs
had 30 seconds between starts.
Max Eddy Jr., had the un-
enviable task of taking the
number-1 Hemingway Sheet
Metal/THR Motorsports/Preci-
sion Concepts KX450F all 545
miles from Beatty to Dayton by
himself, as regular riders Robby
Bell and Ricky Brabec continue
to recover from injuries. He was
second off the line followed by
Esposito on the Bremen Rac-
ing/Chris Haines Motorcycle
Adventure Company/Lucas Oil
CRF450X.
Pearson, of course, is no
stranger to winning, but a small
prep issue apparently cost a
little extra time at the second pit
(Bonnie Claire at mile 57), which
allowed Esposito to pass for the
lead.
But he and Arredondo weren't
able to keep it the whole way,
with Eddy going to the front
some time before pit five (Klond-
ike at mile 191), with the Purvines
Racing Beta duo of Nick Burson
IN
THE
WIND
P28
Vegas-To-Reno
winner Francisco
Arredondo leads
the way. Teammate
Shane Esposito,
however, did most
of the work, riding
about 500 of the
545-mile race.
