Las Vegas SX - Privateer Challenge Race Report

The first annual Hart and Huntington Las Vegas Privateer Challenge was held today at Boulder City Motocross’ pristine supercross track. With 42 riders and a $10,000 purse, Hart and Huntington set the stage for an event that gave back to the privateers of our sport. In order to enter, though, all riders had to be a privateer that weren’t able to collect a salary for the year. After four heat races and three semi races, Sean Borkenhagen came out swinging on his Mid Cities Kawasaki. After losing a $1000 in the Dash For Cash against Kyle Partridge, Borky was able to lead from almost start to finish in the 15-lap main, and came out on top with $3000.

Qualifying

When the gates dropped for the first race of the day it was Lance Vincent who led the other 11 riders into the first turn. Sean Borkenhagen quickly made his way around the HHR Honda rider, but that wasn’t the last of him. As the laps counted down, Borky started to take some heat from Vincent, but Lance flew off the track and straight into a fence. After that, it was smooth sailing for Borkenhagen. Chris Gosselaar and Jason Potter filled the other top three postions. In the second heat, Tony Gallo rocketed off the line and grabbed a commanding holeshot. Gallo went on to lead the entire race, but the real action was happening behind him. After having a bad start, Gray Davenport worked himself all the way into the number two spot by the end of the race, and he was able to bump Coby Adair into third. Adam Conway grabbed the holeshot in the third heat race, but he was quickly passed by Topher Ingalls and Kyle Partridge. Topher was looking pretty comfortable in first, but Partridge had other plans. The Las Vegas native felt right at home at the Boulder City track, and took the lead away from Ingalls. Austin Haught took the number three spot. As for Conway, he ended up with a DNF. Hunter Hewitt took the win in the last heat race of the day. Hewitt had a bad start but ended up working his way up to first, and he claimed some casualties along the way. The Suzuki rider commented, “I unfortunately hit some people, and they went down. That sucks, but then again, that’s racing. Once I got into second, I put my head down and I started to work on getting the pass. After I got around Tanner Reidman I got too comfortable, and he stayed on my rear wheel. I ended up winning, and I get to compete in the Dash For Cash, and I get to go straight to the main.”

Semi

By the time the semi qualifiers started roll around, so did the clouds and the high winds. With only two riders transferring into the main from each semi qualifying race, things started to heat up between riders. In the first semi, Austin Haught and Gared Steinke grabbed the two transferring spots. After suffering from arm pump in his heat race, Lance Vincent came back out and took the win in his semi. Jason Potter took the last transfer. The best racing of the day happened in the third semi. Tanner Reidman was able to grab the holeshot, and it looked like he was going to walk away with the win, but he stalled his bike in a corner. Behind him, though, was an intense battle that was filled with brake checking and corner stuffing. Travis Bannister moved into first after Reidman’s mishap, but Topher Ingalls was all over him after that. Corner after corner, the two exchanged positions numerous times. On the final lap, Ingalls went on to make his move on Bannister before a triple, but the move cost him big time. After coming up short on the landing, Topher hit the ground hard, and he ended up with a DNF.