IN
THE
WIND
P40
"It was really tight for the first
140 miles, probably," Tuffy Pear-
son said. "We [the top three]
were all within three to four min-
utes and with time adjustments
put it really, really close.
"We'd close some on Jake,
then we'd get dust and he'd check
out on some rougher stuff."
Once clear of Argubright's
dust, they set out after Barreda
but were unable to catch the
speedy Spaniard, settling for
second in 9:08:38 with Argu-
bright a lonely third in 9:18:33.
Skyler Howes and Tallon Tay-
lor were the last Open Pro team
to start, but they picked off all
but three others to claim fourth
bike in 9:40:07 aboard their
Fastheads YZ450FX with Ray
Dal Soglio/Braxton Gallian fifth
in 10:25:00 on their Ox Motors-
ports Honda CRF450X.
Michael Metge took the
second Team HRC Rally works
450 to sixth followed by Open
Expert winners Cooper Ashton/
Jared Schlapia/Taylor Stevens,
Open Pros Jeremy Newton/Troy
Vanscourt, 300cc Pro winners
Brett Aguilera/Mike Aguilera/
Jesse Canepa and Open Expert
runners-up Cole Cates/Ryan
Hauser.
Of the 342 total teams en-
tered (including Ironman indi-
viduals, cars, trucks, ATVs and
UTVs), motorcycles comprised
111 with 84 counted as official
finishers. Mark Kariya
Joan Barreda (far left) and Michael
Metge (third from right) comprised
a potentially powerful 1-2 with their
works Honda CRF450 Rally bikes.
