Take two past Vegas to Reno winners, put them on an excellent bike, formulate a solid plan and win the race. That’s how it went at the 21st General Tire Vegas to Reno, Presented by Fox, round three of five for motorcycles in Best in the Desert’s American Off-road Racing Series.
PHOTO BY MARK KARIYA.
Well, maybe not quite.
With more teams vying for that coveted Open Pro triumph than most V2Rs in recent memory, the pace proved to be cracking from the first green light at 5:45 A.M. in Beatty, Nevada, and that revealed varying degrees of weakness in either equipment or plans by the time they reach the finish in Dayton, 540 miles and many hours later.
In the end, though, the Monster Energy Honda Team of Joan Barreda (who soloed to victory at last year’s two-day affair) and Ricky Brabec (who won in 2014 on the private Monster Energy/THR Motorsports/Precision Concepts Kawasaki team) powered to the win in 8 hours, 56 minutes and 23 seconds, unofficially, defeating Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-road Team’s Jacob Argubright and Dalton Shirey, who earned second in 9:12:14. Monarch Honda’s Danny Cooper/Ryan Marshall/Tuffy Pearson/Nick Tolman rounded out the top three bikes and Open Pros in 9:43:12.
Being first off the line is usually an advantage, especially in fast desert races like Vegas to Reno. As Brabec⏤who was third to get the green light⏤suggested.
“If you start first at Vegas to Reno, that’s a huge advantage because the first 30 miles is in the canyons and the dust kind of just sits,” Brabec said.
However, that’s assuming you don’t have problems and, unfortunately for the Husky team, a tire/foam insert problem popped up, forcing them to relinquish the lead to Barreda/Brabec.
A similar issue happened later in the race and, along with a blown tire on the Argubright motor home, meant that their only hope for victory would be if the Honda duo also ran into a problem. That, literally, is what happened to Brabec.
“I knew we had a big lead, and I was just kind of riding and doing my own thing and not really pushing,” Brabec said. “I came around a sweeping left, and there was a three-feet-tall green bush. I’m standing up, and as soon as I get around the bush, there was a rock the size of an ice chest directly in front of me so I tagged that with the front wheel, and I kind of went over the bars. I was pretty mad at myself because I need to stay off the ground.
“After I crashed, the bike wouldn’t even work because the exhaust was folded in so I had to kind of [fix] it in the field by myself and kick the exhaust to open it up [to where it’d run],” Brabec continued. “I was able to ride the bike another 100 miles and get it to [the] Top Gun [pit at mile 462].”
Barreda took it to the finish, still owning a comfortable lead over Argubright.
“It sucks when you have an issue in general in the first 50 miles when you have the lead [starting position] and all you have to do is just ride,” Argubright moaned, adding, “It was a long day, but it was good. I did better than last year.”
The battle for third was more heavily contested with Lake Powell Off-road Association Honda-mounted Skyler Howes mixing it up first with the Travis Damon/Michael Del Fante/Michael Spaise trio aboard their Next Level Fitness Water YZ450FX and later, Danny Cooper/Ryan Marshall/Tuffy Pearson/Nick Tolman. As the miles wound down, Howes looked like a sure bet to grab third, but a damaged chain guide suddenly put that idea on hold until Garrett Poucher (who was also soloing the Open Pro class) came along and gave him the Allen wrench needed to complete the field fix. Though he lost a lot of time waiting by the side of the trail, Howes eventually finished in 11:55:34, good for 10th in class and 26th overall. Good Samaritan Poucher earned seventh in class and 16th overall in 11:21:48.
With Howes sidelined, Cooper/Marshall/Pearson/Tolman took over the third spot after Tolman feared early in his stint that the bike was running out of gas. It turned out the crew hadn’t turned the petcock to Reserve to begin with so after rectifying that, he resumed racing with minimal time lost, the team claiming third place. Damon/Del Fante/Spaise held on to fourth in 9:51:35 while the Stevens Erectors Husky of Jared Schlapie/Taylor Stevens claimed fifth in 9:56:23.
Ironman Expert winner Michael Skurkis put in an outstanding ride, finishing ninth motorcycle overall in 11:05:26.
The race took on a somber tone after Open Amateur racer Chris Carlisle (1st SGT USMC, Ret.) succumbed to injuries in a single-bike crash.
Results available at www.bitd.com.
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