VOL. 52 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 18, 2015 P29
and Axel Pearson creeping up
from seventh off the line aboard
their 6D Helmets/Ame Grips/
Barnett 480 RR. (The Pearson/
Stevens team DNFed after Ste-
vens crashed hard around mile
78, breaking his femur in three
places as well as suffering other
injuries. Burson and solo rider
Justin Morgan were the first on
scene, with Morgan staying with
Stevens and sending Burson
to notify officials. Stevens was
extracted via helicopter and
underwent surgery that night so
he'll be out of action for several
months.)
Eddy said, "Right after pit four,
I took over the lead; I got around
those guys and I led it to mile
350, 400."
However, it wasn't his destiny
to repeat Quinn Cody's incred-
ible solo ride to victory a few
years ago, as the wrist he broke
at San Felipe earlier this year
began to ache badly.
"I said, 'You know what? I'm
just going to back it down and
get to the finish line. If I finish top
three I'll be happy.' That's pretty
much what I did: I backed her
down a little bit and didn't try to
race with Shane or Nick [when
they caught me]."
That put Esposito in front, with
Burson and Pearson coming on
strong—until a freak issue in the
pits cost them time.
"At pit 10 (Mina at mile 354),
Axel came in about 30 seconds,
45 seconds behind Shane,"
Burson reported. "But then at
pit 10, we decided, because we
had a decent lead [over Eddy in
third], we would do a rear wheel
change and our sprocket on
our race bike was stamped as
a 50-[tooth] and that's what we
were supposed to run, but it was
actually a 51!
"So when we went to put
our spare wheel on, we had to
adjust the chain. At the time, we
didn't know what was going on!
We thought the chain stretched.
We were all pretty much freak-
ing out, but it pretty much cost
us like three minutes where a
normal wheel change should've
only cost us a minute.
"I caught back up to where I
could see Shane's dust, then I
don't know—he just got a second
wind or something, he said. It
got super-sketchy with all the
rain ruts and everything and he
just went fast."
Unofficially, Arredondo and
Esposito completed the run
to Dayton in nine hours, 20
minutes and 29 seconds with
Burson/Pearson less than three
minutes behind in 9:23:23.
Eddy crossed the line in an
admirable 9:52:17 with Morgan
fourth on his DP Racing/San Di-
ego Powerhouse/Klim YZ450F
in 10:15:41.
The father/son team of former
winner Steve Hengeveld and
17-year-old Clay Hengeveld won
250cc Pro in 10:21:19 aboard
their Northland Motorsports/
Precision Concepts/Master
Fabrication CRF250X.
Open Expert winners Ricky
Dahlberg/Adam Thissen/Kyle
Townsend were the sixth overall
motorcycle in 10:40:45 followed
by Over 30 Pro winners Chris
Brown/Gabe Guerin, Open
Expert runners-up Steve Luly/
Wesley Luly/Mark Weirich, Iron-
man Expert winner Darrel Collins
and Over 40 Pro winners Alan
Cameron/Chad Thornton.
Mark Kariya
Having drawn
the last starting
position in Open
Pro, Nick Burson
(shown) and Axel
Pearson had their
work cut out for
them but got a
few breaks and
eventually worked
up to second place.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
