Pearson, Ricci Top Silver State 300

Mark Kariya | May 2, 2011

Weather proved to be the toughest opponent for Purvines Racing Honda’s David Pearson and Trevor Ricci, but they coped with the cold and windy conditions to triumph at the Bilek Racing Silver State 300, round three of Best in the Desert’s American Off-Road Racing Series out of Alamo, Nevada, April 30. It marked the second victory of the season for Pearson and was a welcome result after the DNF at round two. (Regular partner Carl Maassberg remains on the sidelines recovering from injury.)

With temperatures well below freezing for the first 100 miles and a stiff breeze present over most of the course all day, Pearson led off the event at 06:00 on his Precision Concepts/Berkeley Honda/Dunop-backed CRF450X and immediately put ground on the rest of the pack. THR Motorsports KX450F-mounted Shane Esposito and Bobby Garrison quickly assumed the role of closest pursuers, but they weren’t able to close the gap until late when Ricci suddenly found no course markers – probably due to arrows being blown away by the wind and ribbon being eaten by cattle.

“I probably lost two, three or four minutes,” Ricci said. “Oh, I was panicking bad! Dave was going to be mad if I lost the lead.”

Pearson rode with heightened urgency for the final stretch from pit six to the finish and managed to hold onto the lead, completing the 303 miles in five hours, 32 minutes and two seconds, unofficially. Esposito took the checkered flag one minute and two seconds later while RPP Racing KTM’s Jerry Parsons and Robert Marshall claimed third, the defending series champs finishing in 5:47:31.

Open Experts Clint Braun, Garrett Osteen and Tyler Renshaw not only won their class but placed a remarkable fourth overall in 5:48:52 on their THR Motorspots KLX450R while Purvines Racing Honda’s David Fry and Jason Trubey rounded out the top five and won Over 30 Pro in 5:50:04.

“I think that’s the coldest my hands have ever been in my whole life,” Pearson declared. “It went good. It was a crazy day, though.” Pearson will find out if he can enjoy a saner day and add another victory at round four – the Epic Racing Blue Water Gran Prix – will take place in Parker, Arizona, in two weeks.