Dirt Bike News - Campbell/Hengeveld Cap Year with Close Win at Hendersons Terrible 400 - Dirt Rider Magazine

A few weeks after winning the Baja 1000, Team Honda's Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld looked forward to ending the year with another win at the finale of Best in the Desert's Silver State Series, the Henderson's Terrible 400. Naturally, they expected tough fight, with Honda's "B" team of Robby Bell and Kendall Norman likely to be their stiffest competition, despite being desert racing rookies at the beginning of the year.But with a year under their belts, Bell and Norman are no longer really rookies, and they hoped to finally notch their first win before the year was up. To that end, Norman handled the lead-off leg and smoked the first 50 miles, building up an unofficial lead of some seven minutes. After that, however, he crashed heavily, hurting his hand and bending the Precision Concepts/HRCA/Renthal-backed XR650R badly enough that it required two pit stops and a complete front end replacement—including the triple clamps.With the "B" team sidelined for repairs, Hengeveld took the lead, holding it the rest of the way. However, it was never what could be termed a comfortable lead as right behind the leaders lurked privateer KTM riders Matt Gosnell and Carl Mossberg on their SuperMex/Advanced Chiropractic/Needham Realty 525 XC. Unofficially, Gosnell and Mossberg had the lead on corrected time early in the race, and after surrendering that, they hung tough, staying within minutes of the leaders."We went out and gave it 100 percent all day long, just trying to chase them down and couldn't," Gosnell said. Part of that, of course, might have been traced to the rear tire coming apart on the final lap.Hengeveld reported, "All my laps went really well. I just finished my third lap, and we had a four-and-a-half-minute lead I got stuck behind a quad for several miles and the guy would not move over. Now we're 20 seconds up," he said as he waited for Campbell to finish the final lap.Unofficially, Campbell and the Precision Concepts/Dunlop/Honda Pro Oils XR650R turned the fastest lap of the day on that final time around, pulling away from his pursuers to finish in an unofficial six hours, 44 minutes and 56 seconds for the 253 miles. That gave them five wins out of the six races in the series, the last four coming consecutively, letting them keep their number one plate by a comfortable margin.Gosnell and Mossberg hung on to claim second Open Pro and second overall in an unofficial 6:46:00. Mike Childress rounded out the top three, winning the Four-stroke Pro division by himself in an unofficial 7:21:27. Partner Chuck Dempsey was unable to attend, forcing Childress to go it alone, but he treated the race as a fast trail ride and went the distance on the XR's Only/O'Neal/Scott XR650R to record the team's fifth consecutive class victory, easily retaining their number one plate.Bell took the remaining five laps in the six-lap race for the Honda "B" team and likewise rode to survive. He finished third Open Pro, fourth overall, in an unofficial 7:24:16. Over 40 Pro winners Scott Glimp and Ron Purvines rounded out the top five motorcycle finishers on their Countrywide Estate Planning/Motorex USA/Sportsman Cycles KTM 450 M/XC in an unofficial 7:45:09.BITD Henderson's Terrible 400 Results (Top 10)
1. Johnny Campbell/Steve Hengeveld, Honda XR650R
2. Matt Gosnell/Carl Mossberg, KTM 525 XC
3. Mike Childress, Honda XR650R
4. Robby Bell/Kendall Norman, Honda XR650R
5. Scott Glimp/Ron Purvines, KTM 450 M/XC
6. Nick Dally/Jason Trubey, Honda CRF450R
7. Charlie Barney/Steve Pitts, ATK 605
8. Bryan Folks/Calvin Whipple, KTM 200 XC
9. Scott Herweg/Chris Ray, Kawasaki KX500
10. David Dunn/Jerry Herling/Williama O'Hara, KTM