VOL. 54 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 10, 2017 P41
hard and then I could hear something going on with
the motor so I tried to baby it as much as I could."
Cooper made it back to the Bluewater Casino,
but the engine expired.
That moved the THR Motorsports/Baja Dad
Race Prep/Precision Concepts CRF450X team of
Dal Soglio, Newton and Vanscourt up to second
where they stayed.
Newton said, "I just knew Jake had a pretty
good lead and Skyler Howes was a decent way
ahead of us so we just tried to make up a lot of
time. We made up a little bit, but they just seemed
to be riding too fast. We just kept them right there.
I got back on [for my final stint from Midway to the
finish] and I think they had a mechanical so they
dropped out, but Jake was gone so we just held it
on and rode safe for a second-place finish." Their
time was 4:32:30.
The Schlapia/Stevens duo claimed the third
spot on the podium with the N2 DNF, even after
Schlapia had stopped to assist one of the riders
on the C17 Over 40 Pro entry who'd crashed and
suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder.
Stevens said, "I made some mistakes with the
gearing; I did 13/48 and I think it only topped out
at 75.
"I also went down while we were running fourth
on the first lap, maybe like five miles before Midway
so it was pretty rough [coming back from that]. After
that I tried to keep it on two wheels." After that, they
duo had no issues on their Stevens Offroad Rac-
ing/Fastheads/Fly Racing-backed Husky FC 450,
taking the checkered flag in 4:44:01.
Open Expert winners Eric Kirby and Zachary
Myers took fourth overall in 4:52:25 on their KTM
followed by Over 30 Pro winners Clint Braun and
Jesse Canepa in 5:00:15.
In other news, BITD Promoter Casey Folks re-
portedly suffered a "medical issue" at the start and
was immediately rushed to the hospital in Parker
before being transferred to a Las Vegas-area hospi-
tal where he was reported to be in stable condition.
Mark Kariya
(Above) Despite riding on a flat tire, the Clint Braun/
Jesse Canepa team crossed the finish line with the Over
30 Pro win before it fell apart completely.
(Below) Danny Cooper (shown), along with partners Ray
Dal Soglio and Troy Vanscourt, put in a solid ride for
second in their first race wearing the N1.
