Abbott/Woods win BITD's Laughlin Hare Scrambles—Finally

Honda tried two approaches to the Kawasaki Team Green Laughlin U.S. Hare Scrambles just outside of Laughlin, Nevada, round two of Best in the Desert's Silver State Series. In the end, though, Team Green came out ahead, with Destry Abbott and Nathan Woods winning the Kawasaki-hosted race for their first time ever.

Naturally, none of the three teams Honda ran at the tightest, most technical race on the BITD calendar (so much so that it's a motorcycle-only event and is the only BITD race that a 125 has overalled before, thanks to DR's Jimmy Lewis years ago) used the XR650R. In addition, it juggled team composition. Johnny Campbell would team with Mike Childress on a CRF450X. On CRF250Rs, Steve Hengeveld and Kendall Norman formed a second team, and Robby Bell rode with Nick Pearson, specially recruited for this race.

After an early crash put the Campbell/Childress team back in the pack, the 250s assumed the responsibility of going for the win—and they did it well by leading the first half of the race.

But when the Abbott/Woods team came up from its sixth start position on the Pro Circuit/Mec Parts Unlimited/Dunlop KX450F, neither of the Precision Concepts/Dunlop/Honda Pro Oils-sponsored duos could do much to hold them back. Hengeveld/Norman repassed them briefly but couldn't keep the Kawasaki's pace. Abbott and Woods would end up winning the 120-mile race easily in four hours, one minute and 40 seconds, unofficially. Hengeveld and Norman sped in for second in 4:07:17 while KTM's Mike Corder and Matt Gosnell made up enough of their starting position deficit to claim third overall in 4:08:04 on their Michelin/FMF/Tag 525 XC. Bell and Pearson were just 16 seconds behind in overall adjusted time to nab fourth overall, fourth Open Pros, with KTM's Brent Harden and Kellon Walch taking fifth overall, first Four-stroke Pros, on their Michelin/IMS/Tag 525 XC in 4:19:35.

Afterwards, a relieved Abbott said, "This is one of those races I've always wanted to win. I think I've won pretty much all the major ones out west but this one.

"I think we both had clean rides. I never stalled it; nothing happened—just cactus in me, but that's about it; for this place that's normal."

Former motocrosser Woods related, "The technical stuff definitely is my style. I grew up riding in the tighter stuff, and that's just something I like to do. The faster stuff is definitely not my forte."

But faster stuff is not what Laughlin is about. Hengeveld defending Honda's hoice of smaller machinery by commenting, "That was a really fun race. I think Kendall and I picked the right bike for out here; we both had a really good time on it, the ol' 250. It's down a little bit of power in some [sections], but I think we came here and were a lot more competitive than we have been in the past [on the big bikes]."

Having been the first team to start and leading for a lap, Bell said, "The first lap was pretty fun—a lot of virgin stuff; there was absolutely no trail so I was basically blazing trail, following ribbon. It was the first time I'd ever been out front like that, too. It was definitely different, but I got used to it pretty quick. It's just that I had to really look far ahead on the course to see where I was going. I noticed I'd kind of get into the motocross mode where you kind of look down [at your front wheel]. I'd start blowing corners and stuff; I just had to keep reminding myself, 'Look ahead!' "

Unofficial Laughlin Results
1. Destry Abbott/Nathan Woods, Kawasaki KX450F
2. Steve Hengeveld/Kendall Norman, Honda CRF250R
3. Mike Corder/Matt Gosnell, KTM 525 XC
4. Robby Bell/Nick Pearson, Honda CRF250R
5. Brent Harden/Kellon Walch, KTM 525 XC
6. Clint Braun/Carl Maassberg, Yamaha YZ450F
7. Wade Phillips/NA, Suzuki RM-Z250
8. Bert Bradford/Rob Phillips, KTM
9. Bryan Folks/Elmer Symons, KTM 250 XC
10. Brian Melsheimer/Jason Trubey, Honda
11. Max Eddy, Jr./David Kamo, KTM 250 SX
12. Michael Berenbak/Sean Berryman, Honda
13. Joel Ray/Tim Wussow, Honda
14. Christopher Blais, KTM 525 XC
15. Johnny Campbell/Mike Childress, Honda CRF450X
16. Chad Tichenor/Steve Tichenor, NA
17. Ray Crumb/David Fry, Honda CRF450R
18. Bryan Bruning/Ken Kozlik, KTM 300
19. Adas Bakchis/Lane Morrison, Yamaha YZ250F
20. Jim Finerty, Yamaha