Team Alba Battles for the Win in Best of the Desert Vegas to Reno
Beilman and Row Finish the 500 Mile Race just 7 Minutes off the Win - For a Solid Podium Finish -
Matlock & Crosthwaite Start Strong then Struggle with Carburation Problems

June 27, 2003
Report By: Chris Conrady

Billed as the longest off-road race in America, the Vegas to Reno race brings the best of the best together to battle it out in the Nevada desert - in the summer. It's a tough race, and like most desert racing, it's not just about how fast you ride, but also about how reliable your equipment is and how well you deal with the challenges that arise over that 500 miles.

Team Alba Racing had two teams entered. The Q15 of BITD 2nd in points Wayne Matlock and Alex Crosthwait, and the Q7 Team of former Vegas to Reno Winner Steve Beilman and Former Baja 500 Winner Greg Row. Both Riding Team Alba Performance Suzuki LT-Z450s.

Behind these two teams were a literal army of supporters - from the Team Alba Racing Performance shop that built the motors and quads, to the many chase teams that competed in a race of their own through the Nevada Desert.

The real race actually started a couple of hours and about 100 miles before the green flag. To make the 5:15 AM start time, the teams left the hotel just outside of Las Vegas at 3:30am and headed North West at a high rate of speed - converging on a gas station it what seemed at the time was the middle of nowhere. Several hundred trucks, motorcycles, quads and people had converged here and waited for their designated start time. Desert racing has riders draw numbers for starting position and start 30 seconds apart - with time adjusted at the finish. Last minute checks were made, radio communications were established between the riders and chase vehicles and everything was topped off with fuel.

Early on it was evident that dust was going to be a serious factor in this race. Already at 5:00am with the pro MXers flying off the line, the layer of dust and silt in the air was surprisingly thick, and made a clear line along the base of the mountains defining the course. And having drawn a later starting position, Alba's team riders new that they would be fighting near zero visibility right from the start.

Although the dust made it hard to see, the racers knew that their best bet was to go fast and get out in front as quickly as possible. By pit 2, team Q15 had already passed several of the earlier starters and was working their way up to the front of the quad pack.

The Q7 team also passed several other riders, but missed a turn in the dust and ended up off course. The small outing, about a flat-out mile out and back, ended up costing team Q7 several minutes.

Aside from a large KTM support truck fighting to get free from the gravel pit that was pit 2, the fuel dump, rider check and quick look-over went well for both ALBA teams. Team Q15 rolled in and out a few minutes before team Q7. The Suzuki's were running great and the riders were feeling good.

Pit 3 went equally well, as did pit 4 where there was the second rider change. Also, by pit 4, the traffic had thinned out a bit and the visibility had picked up making the riders feel a bit more confident about running flat out through the middle of the desert for 50 mile stretches.

The fight for good visibility was never more evident then when team Q7 rider Steve Beilman left the pits at the same time as a Pro MX rider.

Not wanting to eat his dust for the next leg of the race, Beilman dug deep for every bit of torque he could manage from his Alba 450 stroker motor and beet him off the line. Realizing he was on the loosing end of the battle, the MX rider promptly backed off a bit, and Team Alba was outta there.

Pit 5 proved to be possibly more difficult for the support crew than for the riders. The pit was 3.5 miles off of the main road, down a dirt road that was deep with silt. Support trucks were racing both directions down this one way dirt road with near zero visibility - a head on collision was eminent. Fortunately the Team Alba support crew made it in and out without a hitch.

At this part of the race, the Highway Patrol was out in force to make sure that the race support teams in a hurry to get to the next pit, obeyed the posted speed limit. On one 20 mile stretch of the highway, we counted 7 or 8 patrol cars. There were a lot of tickets given that day. Around pits 6 and 7, the quad support teams started to encounter the beast that is better known as Trophy Trucks. Not on the trail, heck, they had just barely started, but in the pits. To assure they had prime pit location, the trophy truck teams had roped off most of the designated pit area - leaving not much room for the quad teams. Fortunately we were able to squeeze in between a radio truck and a fueling tower to service our teams. The quads were still running strong. And we hadn't even had a flat!

This leg of the race proved to be a turning point for team Q15. Where Greg Row had a near flat-out run, catching more riders and closing the distance to the lead, Team Q15 began to develop a vapor lock problem that would prove to be their downfall.

"The quad would start, run for a minute, then die out." said Alex, who was stranded for quite a while, but was able to limp back to the pits with his sick quad. The pit team reported that they could see a dust trail build up, run for a bit, then stop, then do it all again. It was a trying time for the team as they struggled to get back to the pits, and tried to figure out what they could do to get team Q15 back in the running. Wayne entered the race just a few points off of first in the Best In The Desert series, so every point was crucial.

For Matlock and Crosthwait team Q15, this part of the race where the speed depended on the race support mechanics - How quickly they could get the problem diagnosed and make the needed repairs.

However by this time, the support teams had separated, one team off to chase team Q7 already a couple of pits ahead, and the other group back with team Q15. So the mechanic teams had to consult by radio and spotty cell phone coverage to work out a solution - which they were able to do.

It seems that there was a vapor lock problem, probably from the dust or rocks finding their way into the carb. At the time, replacing the entire carburetor was the best solution so that is what we did. Unfortunately, having been stranded on the track and in the pits during repairs put team Q15 several hours off pace.

For the most part, the Beilman/Row Alba Z450 ran great. The only small problem came entering pit 11, where one tire seemed to have a slow leak. And that was the extent of the mechanical problems we had for the day. The Team Alba Suzuki was running strong. The only other problem that team Q7 encountered was not on the track, but on the highway.

The last 4 pits were remote, meaning that it wasn't possible for the support team to get from one pit to the next before the rider. The support crew ferrying Greg Row to Pit 13 for the rider switch for the last leg of the race was stopped dead on HWY 95 for road construction. At the driver's meeting, the team was warned that this may be a problem. It was.

Beilman entered pit 13 flat out, after running his longest and last scheduled leg of the race, to find Greg Row, his relief rider, not there. In fact, Greg was just 1 mile away in a support truck speeding to the pit. Knowing that the leaders had just left the pits and not wanting to waste any time, Beilman decided to forge ahead and not wait for Row. He gassed and was gone.

Row's truck just missed Steve at the pit crossing by minutes. Row's team then thought they could catch up with Steve by the last pit, pit 14 and let

Greg power though to the finish. They shot down Hwy. 95 nearly 100 mph. And it may have been enough had there not been road construction up ahead. Steve was on his own.

This is about the time that Wayne and Alex got back on track at pit 7. Unfortunately for them, the trophy trucks had already caught up with them. On this track, motorcycles threw up a lot of dust. Quads threw up about 3 times the dust. Trophy trucks throw up about 10 times the amount of dust. If you want to see where you are going you don't want to be behind a trophy truck - and you really don't want to get run over by one.

A little over 11 hours after the start, Beilman, pretty-well beat, crossed the finish line. The Team Alba Racing team of Beilman and Row scored a 3rd place podium finish, just 7 minutes from the first quad.

On the finish line, Beilman credited the strength and reliability of his Alba Suzuki LT-Z450 which ran flawless for the entire day.

"It's ready to turn around and run back to Vegas" He said in the post race interview.

As for the Team Alba Racing Q15 team of Matlock and Crosthwait, once they got the carburetor changed at pit 7 they had a strong second half of the race. They never gave up and ran strong all the way to the finish, ultimately scoring a 9th place finish crossing the finish line at 8:30pm just as the sun was setting.

The real race for Q15 was with the Q2 team. Going into the race Q2s Stevenson and Team Alba's Matlock were in a close points race for overall BITD 1st place. Stevenson had motor problems about the same time as Matlock's carb crapped out. So the race for each came down to how well they could get the repairs done and get back on the trail. At each pit, a close watch was kept by the support teams as to the progress of each team. Reports like "Q2 just left the pits after a head change and is sounding really choppy" flooded the air waves and gave a little motivation for a team that ran into a tough obstacle. Ultimately Q2 finished one position better than Matlock - so the ultimate points race for the season is still anyone's game.

After the finish. Top Three Finishers Talking about the Last 500 Miles and 11 hours