Nevada 2000 Update – Day 5

Mark Kariya | July 14, 2000

The Nevada 2000 took a dramatic turn on day five – Thursday – when Team Green’s Destry Abbott crashed heavily at speed some 100 miles into the 302-mile stretch from Reno to Tonopah. He reportedly went to the hospital to get checked for a possible concussion and other injuries.

With Abbott out and his KX500 apparently too badly damaged for partner Brown to continue without repairs, Honda’s Johnny Campbell assumed the lead on his XR650R. Despite a highside, a bout of suspected food poisoning and the loss of his partner, Tim Staab, due to a broken foot from a day-four crash, Campbell held the lead to the finish.

Unofficially, though, the day’s win went to Honda teammates Steve Hengeveld and Jonah Street. After Campbell crashed, they slashed their deficit from some two minutes to about 30 seconds, holding that margin to the finish in Tonopah. On corrected time, then, they took the day’s victory and will start first for the final day.

On corrected cumulative time for the week (again, unofficially since official results have not been issued for day four as of the finish of day five), Campbell needs only to finish within about 12 minutes of Hengeveld/Street on the final day to take the overall win.

Third for the day went to Over 30 Pro leaders Rick Bozarth and Daryl Folks.

Attrition has taken a toll over the last two days even though it’s not extremely physical. Several teams have replaced shocks and/or forks in order to have fresh suspension for the final day or two. The final day of just over 200 miles from Tonopah to Pahrump promises to be the roughest portion of the race.

Mark Kariya | Contributor

Kariya spends way too much time in the desert, but we’re glad he does as he’s the man who gets us our coverage of all things sandy.