THE WEEKLY FEED: VEGAS TO RENO 500-MILE DESERT RACE • RED BULL TKO GALLERY • HARD ENDURO VIDEO

BLAST FROM THE PAST: J.N. ROBERTS OWNED THE DESERT

This is classic J.N. Roberts, a man who owned the desert racing world in a time when the dirt bike planet was catching fire. And while his role in On Any Sunday marched him into the limelight of the fledging dirt bike world, it was his ability to dance across the desert at speeds that were inconceivable that made him famous. J.N. won the infamous Barstow to Vegas four consecutive times, at one point he won 27 straight races, was a two-time Baja 1000 winner, two-time Baja 500 winner, the Mint 400 three-times and raced the 1971 ISDT. He was recognized by the football face guard on his helmet, Levi’s and his big Husqvarna will forever leave his marque on a sport and lifestyle searching for heroes.

RED BULL TKO HARD ENDURO OUT TAKES

photos by Kenny King

Trystan Hart followed by Paul Bolton, who is filming for the series. Mr. Hart was dominate.

Mani Lettenbichler, second, bad foot and all.

Mario Roman, Mr. Consistent and third overall

Sherco’s Wade Young and his first race back after injuries. Fourth overall.

Bulgaria’s Teo Kabakchiev has elevated his game and is a constant player in the FIM Hard Enduro World Championships. He finished in 5th place.

Alfredo Gomez and Taddy Blazusiak navigate the TKO searching for optimum lines. Alfredo finished 6th overall, Taddy out of the top ten.

Ryder LeBlond continues his charge finishing 7th overall.

Graham Jarvis contemplates his next section. The 48-year old star tallied an 8th place finish.

Cody Webb returned to action, not quite 100% but finished 9th overall.

SKYLER HOWES WINS VEGAS TO RENO DESERT RACE

Skyler Howes has won the prestigious Vegas to Reno desert race held in Nevada, USA. Riding his Husqvarna Factory Racing FR 450 Rally in the event, Howes fought back from a difficult qualifying session to take the win on what was an especially tough 2022 edition of the race.

Starting just outside of Las Vegas and covering nearly 500 miles on its way to the finish near Reno, the event is famous for being America’s longest and fastest single-day offroad race. With rain and flooding in the area causing the organisers to alter much of this year’s route, riders faced an extra-technical, but shortened race due to detours around some of the worst hit sections of the traditional course.

Fighting his way through to a strong position, Howes found himself in cleaner air in the final 100 miles of the race and was able to push to make up time on his rivals. Ultimately delivering an impressively consistent and near mistake-free ride from start to finish, the FR 450 Rally rider was able to take the win – his second career victory at the event – by just over four minutes from second-placed, FX 450-mounted Dalton Shirey.

Skyler Howes: “I’m super-stoked to get the win! Especially as a solo rider versus the other teams. The organisers did an incredible job of managing the difficult conditions – so many of the dry lake beds were full of water and a lot of the rest of the course was destroyed by flooding. Qualifying wasn’t so good, I had a little tip off that cost me a little time, and on such a short course it meant I set off last of all the pro class on the main race. The dust out there was incredible, thankfully riding the rally bike, I was able to carry on for longer without stopping for fuel and so that helped to make up time on the guys ahead. I just rode my own race and ticked off the miles. With a bit more clear air towards the end, I was able to make up those last few minutes I needed. Dalton crossed the line first, but on corrected time, I managed to take the win by about four minutes. It’s back to training and testing now – we’re working on the roadbook a lot and I want to be at my absolute best in time for Morocco. It’s still a little way off, but I’m feeling good and can’t wait to get back to some world championship racing now.”