Hengeveld and Campbell Winners Again

Mark Kariya | June 28, 2004

Team Honda’s Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld (pictured) led from start to finish on their XR650R to capture the TSCO Vegas to Reno, round four of Best in the Desert’s Silver State Series, June 25. They finished the 490-mile race across Nevada, from just north of Pahrump to Dayton, in eight hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds, unofficially, giving them the Open Pro and overall motorcycle win, despite having to contend with a cracked exhaust most of the way.

Second overall Christopher Blais and Quinn Cody kept it fairly close on their XR650R. They were the only team able to run with the winners, and they also came away with the Four-stroke Pro-class victory. Blais and Cody finished six minutes back in 8:17:59, unofficially.

After the first two teams, there was a large gap, with third overall going to Chuck Dempsey and Andy Grider, on another XR650R, to end up second in the Four-Stroke Pro class, finishing in 9:06:30, even after Grider started late. KTM 525 MXC-mounted Paul Krause and Elmer Symons claimed third Four-stroke Pro and fourth overall in 9:19:23. The team forged on after Symons went down hard early in the event.

Clint Braun and Matt Gosnell rounded out the top five, while taking the 250cc Pro win on their KTM 250, though Braun had to ride the last 200 miles without relief after Gosnell crashed and had to go to the hospital for examination. Their unofficial time was 9:31:24.