Hengeveld Hangs Tough for Solo Vegas 200 Win

Though it ended up being one of the rougher races of the year, Honda's Steve Hengeveld rode the entire Las Vegas 200 by himself and still came away with the overall victory on his XR650R. Partner Johnny Campbell sat this one out due to a reported eye infection, though Hengeveld said he was prepared to ride if absolutely necessary.

But as it turned out, Hengeveld had the situation well in hand, and he easily maintained the lead he enjoyed from the very start of the race, which was round five of Best in the Desert's Silver State Series and actually held near Jean, south of Las Vegas.

"I've [raced this by myself] several times in the past and almost won so I thought, 'Might as well give it a shot,' " he said. And it worked out, as the only thing he had to worry about was lapped traffic and its attendant dust. In fact, Hengeveld said he started running into lappers at mile eight of his second loop so he enjoyed only about 80 miles of dust-free conditions--which was certainly better than everyone behind him. The general consensus was that this was the dustiest and probably roughest edition of the race. Hengeveld finished the three 71-mile laps in four hours, 46 minutes and 35 seconds, unofficially.

Mike Childress and Chuck Dempsey finished second overall and first Four-stroke Pro in 4:54:32 on their XR650R in what turned out to be the only Pro class with any competition. However, the other two teams in the class both experienced major problems, with the Paul Krause/Elmer Symons team DNFing with a seized KTM 525 (low on oil after the filler cap fell out) and Christopher Blais/Andy Grider losing an estimated 45 minutes with another lost oil filler cap episode on their 525, thus finishing well back in the field but at least earning points.

Third overall ended up belonging to 250cc Pro winners Clint Braun and Matt Gosnell in 5:26:34 on their KTM, despite a flat tire, having to drain the wrong fuel out of the tank after a pit mistake and fixing a broken exhaust flange. Their finish wrapped up the class championship for them a race early so the two young men from Nevada are toying with the idea of entering Open Pro at the series finale to see if they can move up even more in the overall finishing positions.

As for Campbell and Hengeveld, the win puts them in a virtual lock for the BITD Open Pro championship with only the Henderson's Terrible 300 remaining. First, though, they'll turn their attention to wrapping up the SCORE championship as they attempt to win the Baja 1000 next month.

OVERALL RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL)

1. Steve Hengeveld (Honda XR650R) 4:46:35
2. Mike Childress/Chuck Dempsey (Honda XR650R) 4:54:32
3. Clint Braun/Matt Gosnell (KTM 250 SX) 5:26:34
4. Larry Brown/David Fry (Honda XR650R) 5:36:03
5. Doug Eichner/Marc Spaeth (Roll Design/Honda TRX450R) 5:36:29