VOL. 53 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 23, 2016 P37
there were some complaints that
the start times didn't accurately
reflect the first day's actual race
times after factoring in the first
day's transport section and re-
start times. The finish in Dayton
(southeast of Reno) sat at mile
644.
The first day saw Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna Factory
Racing Off-road Team's Jacob
Argubright lead from start to fin-
ish aboard his Bel-Ray/FMF/6D
Helmets-backed FC 450. Like
many, he counted this edition of
V-R "The Long Way" as a bucket
list item, having never raced
BITD and especially Vegas to
Reno.
However, Barreda, who'd
drawn the third starting position
and was second physically into
Tonopah, turned in a slightly
faster time aboard his very trick
Motul/Michelin/Red Bull factory
Honda. Argubright was second
fastest followed by the THR
Motorsports/Chidester Trans-
port Racing/Precision Concepts
KX450F-mounted squad of Max
Eddy, Jr./David Pearson/Tuffy
Pearson.
"The most difficult [thing] is to
learn the kind of navigation; the
race [markings] and everything
are different, the pit stops and a
lot of things [are] different [than
rallies]," Barreda said.
But he obviously learned
quickly enough, passing the
Tech-One Designs/Concours
Auto Body/K-9 Solutions KTM
450 XC-F trio of Wyatt Brittner/
Ricky Dahlberg/Irving Powers
who were second off the line on
that first day.
"For the track and [this] area
of the desert, it was really good,
really demanding, a lot of kilome-
ters," Barreda shared. "After I
passed the second-[place] rider,
I [got into] a really good rhythm."
Argubright said, "I knew he
was going to be quick and he is
the real deal. It was fun to race
with him. Towards the end, I
knew he was coming and I just
did my best.
"It's my first Vegas to Reno so
the ultimate goal was to finish
and I did so I'm happy."
On the second, longer day,
Barreda had no one to chase as
he was first off the line. With the
knowledge gained from the pre-
vious day as well as his extensive
rally background, he kept the
rest of the field at bay and left
them to fight for second.
"I pushed a lot and it was
really a long stage and I was
fighting the whole stage [to stay
in front] and I'm very happy with
the result," the winner reported
at the finish. Unofficially, his time
for the two days was nine hours
and 59 seconds.
Initially, Argubright held sec-
ond, but that went away when
he discovered he'd lost his rear
brake and crashed after over-
cooking one of the turns at the
end of a high-speed straight.
(How high-speed? The GPS on
the Eddy/Pearson/Pearson bike
showed them averaging just over
60 miles per hour for the first
day.)
Though he wasn't seriously
injured and was able to con-
tinue, Argubright yielded the
runner-up spot to the number N3
Kawasaki.
Taylor Stevens (shown), Cooper
Ashton and Jared Schlapia took sev-
enth overall bike and were the first
Experts to finish.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
