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Las Vegas to Reno is a cross-country event, organised by Best of the Desert Racing Association, between the two biggest cities of Nevada. On 20 August, Ricky Brabec and Joan Barreda took it in turns at the wheel of a Honda CRF450 RALLY of factory team Monster Energy Honda Team to bag a clear win with Motul's open, wide-ranging technical support.
While Spaniard Joan Barreda already won last year, Ricky Brabec had been waiting since 2014 for a second win on home turf, coming as he does from neighbouring California. He tells us about the adventure of team #N6 over the 540 miles (864 kilometres) of this 21st staging of the V2R: 'I love this event comprising rapid mountain roads interspersed with sandy parts. Dust is often punishing so it's better to ride in front! I started from 3rd but I quickly took the lead, taking advantage of the leaders' glitches. After 150 miles I handed the bike over to Joan.'
The Honda had a ten minutes lead when Ricky took back the wheel. 'In the 385th mile I hit a stone hidden in the shade and fell. I lost three minutes and, in the following stop, the mechanics from JCR-Honda, our local partners for assistance, fixed the damaged silencer.' Joan Barreda crossed without any trouble the last 77 miles to come home with a 16 minute lead. Team HRC's weekend brought a bumper crop, the other half of the team having accompanied Kevin Benavides and Paulo Gonçalves on the podium of the Atacama Rally, in Chile!
