Mike Childress (shown) and Steve Hengeveld notched their third BITD victory of the season at Vegas to Reno.
As the third rider to start the 10th Annual TSCO Vegas to Reno race, round four of Best in the Desert's Silver States Series, Mike Childress and Steve Hengeveld knew that their toughest competition would likely be starting the minute behind them, and that was fellow Honda racers Robby Bell and Johnny Campbell. So, Childress and Hengeveld figured that their best chance to win would be to get out front early by passing the two bikes that would be starting before him.
"It was really rocky for the first 10 miles so it was still dusty but not really bad," Childress said in describing the first section, "so I knew, `All right, I've got to get by these guys in the first 10 miles or we're going to follow them on the [much dustier] roads until they pit or something.' "
Childress carried the plan to perfection, passing both of the bikes before the first pit and well before turning the Berkeley Honda-prepared Precision Concepts/Honda Pro Oils/Dunlop XR650R over to Hengeveld at pit two where he'd begin his stint. "That worked out good, and Johnny wasn't able to get them before the roads so I kind of got Johnny [stuck] back there stuck in the dust, and I had clear sailing from mile 10 all day. The way that worked out was awesome."
By the time Campbell worked past them, the Childress/Hengeveld team "...had a sizeable lead then so Robby and I just put our heads down and we picked away at their lead. We lost a little bit in the middle part of the race.
After getting the bike from partner Mike Childress in the lead, Steve Hengeveld did his part and kept it out front.
"From then on, though, we started picking it up and picking it up. The bike was working really good, and it looked like we were going to have a race on in to the finish."Unfortunately for the Precision Concepts/Honda Pro Oils/Dunlop CRF450X-mounted runners-up, Campbell hit a rock at speed and got a flat rear tire, forcing him to back off and settle for second overall. (The tire eventually came completely apart within sight of the finish, heavily damaging the back end of the bike and giving Campbell a whipping. He said, "I haven't had a flat in a race in a long time. I guess the odds caught up to me this time.") After running as close as a minute on adjusted time, Bell/Campbell ended up completing the 584 miles in nine hours, 44 minutes and 57 seconds, compared to the 9:26:25 for Childress/Hengeveld.
Coming from farther back to finish third bike overall and first Four-stroke Pro were brothers Chris and Nick Blais on the BlaisRacing.com/Sidi/Michelin KTM 540 XC that Chris spent many hours building. Though Nick crashed in the early going and let Chris handle much of the riding, he didn't suffer serious injury. Of course, that didn't bother Chris, who saw it as training for the next Dakar Rallye. They finished in 10:29:43.
Brothers Luke and Zach Dodson flogged their RM-Z450 to finish fourth overall, second Four-stroke Pros.
Another pair of brothers took runner-up in Four-stroke Pro and finished fourth bike overall. Though fairly new to BITD events, Luke and Zach Dodson adapted their SunQuest/Barstow Motorcycle Center/FMF RM-Z450 well to Vegas to Reno's unique demands and took the checkered flag at 10:45:29.
That was exactly four minutes faster than Open Expert winners Max Eddy, Jr./Chris Ray/Jeff Trulove on their MJS Racing/Three Brothers/Talla Rico Engine & Suspension Works KTM 540 MXC. The first non-Pros to the finish for the second race in a row, Trulove said, "We started last [off the line in our class] so we were behind all day, trying to play catch-up."
TSCO Vegas to Reno Top 10 Motorcycle Results
1. Mike Childress/Steve Hengeveld, Honda XR650R, 9:26:25
2. Robby Bell/Johnny Campbell, Honda CRF450X, 9:44:57
3. Christopher Blais/Nicholas Blais, KTM 540 XC, 10:29:43
4. Luke Dodson/Zach Dodson, Suzuki RM-Z450, 10:45:29
5. Max Eddy, Jr./Chris Ray/Jeff Trulove, KTM 540 MXC, 10:49:29
6. Paul Krause/Elmer Symons, KTM 250 XC, 10:50:10
7. Kyle Hucklebridge, Honda XR650R, 10:55:41
8. Jon Ortner/Kurt Sofka, Jr., Honda XR650R, 10:57:49
9. Brian Melsheimer/Ryan Spangler/Jason Trubey, Honda CRF450X, 11:04:39
10. Shane McFall/Garey Smith, Honda XR650R, 11:11:22
Chris Blais stops for a splash of gas near Luning, 458 miles into the race. He and brother Nick ended up winning Four-stroke Pro and were third overall. | 
One of the pits happened to be in Rachel, which is on the Extraterrestrial Highway and not far from the infamous Area 51. | 
Hengeveld (left) and Childress appeared to have hardly broken a sweat en route to victory. |
This looked pretty gnarly. Johnny hit a rock and got a flat in the final section. He tried to nurse it in, but about a mile from the finish, the tire finally came completely apart. The whipping piece tore off the rear fender, bent the subframe and pipe, even pulled the air filter off and spanked Johnny. | 
With Kendall Norman on the sidelines with a tweaked wrist, Johnny Campbell got into race mode once more, teaming with Robby Bell for second overall. | 
Robby Bell wasn't too disappointed with second overall. He gave high marks to the desert development of the CRF450X. |