Steve Hengeveld soloed day...
Steve Hengeveld soloed day one at the Nevada 1000 and took first place.
Despite being docked five minutes for getting on the gas too soon after a paved road crossing, Honda's Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld held on to win the first day of the four-day McMillin Nevada 1000, round four of Best in the Desert's Silver State Series, which went from Beatty to Tonopah. So, instead of having a six-plus-minute lead on their XR650R at the end of the day, they had a minute and 42 seconds, unofficially. Their unofficial time for the 221-mile race was three hours, 50 minutes and 21 seconds after the penalty.
Still, that was better than their KTM rivals, Chris Blais and Andy Grider. Hit with the same penalty for the same infraction at the same spot, their five minutes cost them a half-dozen spots in the overall results. Instead of starting day two in second place, they'll give chase on their factory 690 LC4 Rally bike from the sixth start position after finishing in 3:56:11 after penalty.
Mike Childress (here at the...
Mike Childress (here at the start) also soloed day one and was second overall.
Starting second on day two will instead be the XR650R of Baja 500 winner Mike Childress and Chuck Dempsey. Childress, like Hengeveld, rode the entire first day without relief, since Dempsey is still recovering from injury and was only going to ride in case of emergency. They took the first day's Four-stroke Pro win in 3:52:03. (Campbell and Hengeveld's pre-race plan included an option for Hengeveld to take it all the way if he felt like that would work out better than taking the time to switch riders. Campbell denied being injured and plans to be an integral part of the team for the next few days, which are significantly longer, though the final day will be significantly shorter.)
Early leaders Robby Bell and Kendall Norman on the second American Honda XR650R ended up third overall and second Open Pro in an unofficial 3:53:03 with Norman going down momentarily but not doing damage or even losing the lead about 52 miles into the race. (Hengeveld would overtake Bell at about mile 135 as they worked through a rocky, technical canyon and spend the remaining 95 miles in clean air.)
Team Green's Shane Esposito and David Pearson were hampered by a non-working rear brake and running out of gas, though that reportedly didn't cost much time as Pearson simply put the bike in neutral, whipped out a bottle he was carrying and refueling on the fly--dry break and all. They finished 18 seconds behind Bell and Norman for fourth overall, third Open Pro.
Rounding out the top five overall bikes were KTM's Kellon Walch, in his first major race back from injury (broken femur suffered while pre-running for the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 in February), and partner Marc Coma, a rally racer from Spain. Coma also ran out of fuel, but he had to stop to dump the bottle he was carrying for their 525 M/XC, yielding two spots in the process.
The remaining three days of the race will start and finish in Tonopah.
Unofficial Nevada 1000 Motorcycle Results - Day One
1. Johnny Campbell/Steve Hengeveld, Honda XR650R
2. Mike Childress/Chuck Dempsey, Honda XR650R
3. Robby Bell/Kendall Norman, Honda XR650R
4. Shane Esposito/David Pearson, Kawasaki KX500
5. Marc Coma/Kellon Walch, KTM 525 M/XC
6. Christopher Blais/Andy Grider, KTM 690 LC4 Rally
7. Clint Braun/Matt Gosnell, KTM 525 M/XC
8. Paul Emerson/Gil Grieve, KTM 525 M/XC
9. Charlie Barney/Steve Pitts, ATK 605
10. Nick Daily/Mike Korenwinder, Honda CRF450R