The local desert racers faced off east of Fernley for another round of competition.

Nightingale (Oct 9) – MRANN at Nightingale brought two days of desert racing blessed by Mother Nature with fantastic weather. Unlike the season opener, which was north of here, this race was located six miles up the frontage road on the south side of I-80.

This was hosted by the Tank Slappers Motorcycle Club, which named it “The Jackass Strikes Back Hare Scrambles.”

On Sunday, after the riders meeting everyone lined up in their respective ranks. As usual all three divisions, Expert, Amateur and Novice started one after the other when the dust cleared.

Once the banner was lifted then brought down the riders, who were standing in back of their bikes, jumped on them, got started and roared across a field to the first right hand turn.

Like two years ago they did a three-mile loop that took the racers past the pits and on to the 40-mile long course. For one veteran it was time to get things in gear and start flying.

“The course wasn’t beat up at all, just a little bit from the mini bike section. Once I got to the radio tower I looked back, saw no one behind me so I just took it easy and one small get off and broke the front brake lever. So I ran the last lap without a front brake lever,” Dennis Belingheri said after taking the win. “The course was good, the washes were pretty buffed out from the rain, which made it good and overall probably one of the best-marked courses I’ve raced.”

One key was his start where he quickly sped into the lead and missed the dust cloud behind him.

“I got a good jump on the start and was told not to go right so I stayed left all the way, found a good line to the front then looked behind me and saw nothing but a cloud of dust,” he said. “Willie was behind me and I knew that Irving was coming but he would have to struggle in the dust to get by those guys and I had clear air.”

Then he gave special thanks to his pit crew for their quick stop, his wife, Steve Tichenor and everybody in the Rim Benders club.

One motivation for Belingheri is that he plans for a change of pace after this season and would like it to end with the overall points championship.

“This is going my last year pushing hard, I find out that the older you get injuries take a lot longer to heal. I’ve got Winnemucca to race, then hopefully secure the number 1 plate then I can focus on other things,” he said.

After the experts were launched they roared off sending up a cloud of dust. But by the time they came past the pits ending the initial short lop Belingheri was clearly in the lead while those following him, except for second place, were having to deal with the dust.

As the field headed across an almost level area before climbing a hill toward the radio towers Willy Heiss was second but soon Irving Powers was able to work his way out of the pack and into second.

A little over an hour and 10 minutes after the start Belingheri came into view heading downhill towards the pits. After a quick stop he took off and stormed out on his second lap.

At that time he had a four-minute lead over Powers while Heiss was a good two minutes further back. Behind them Jeff Tabrizi was almost 10-minues behind leader Belingheri while Austin Wilson was another three minutes further back.

In the end Belingheri, the “Desert Fox,” as he’s known, had increased his lead, despite taking it easy, to just over five minutes. While Powers tried his best he had to settle for the runner up spot.

“The race was pretty good, I rode excellent, had no problems just a bad start. I had about six kicks before I got off the line and then just dealt with dust getting through the pack,” Powers said. “Once I was in third it took me a long time to get by second due to the dust. Other than that I had a quick pit, no falls, smooth day and I enjoyed the clear air.”

Then he thanked his pit crew and sponsors that included McCoy’s Off Road, Chip Johnston and Morris Ag Air.

While ages vary in the riders Chris Loer showed that being over 60 doesn’t necessarily slow a person down that much. He started the second loop in 13th and finished there.

At the start of the second loop Chuck Faul, who ended up 19th over all, was ahead of Jake Himphill in the amateur division. Further back Andrew Robinson had climbed his way to 29th and was the Novice leader.

At the end Himphill won the Over 30 Amateur Division with his 14th place finish.

“It was fun, I caught 3c (Faul), he made a mistake on the hill and I was gone every since then,” Himphill said. “The course was fast, rocky, challenging and I liked the downhill canyon. I want to thank my girlfriend Jessi, the Trail Blazers and my parents.”

Another class winner that held his station through the second loop was 29th placed and Open Novice winner Andrew Robinson, who came up from Walker, California.

“It was fun, rocky, dusty and overall fun,” he said after finishing the race. “I know I lapped a couple novices. Want to thank my wife Kaelyn, she’s the only that supports me.”

When Sunday’s big bike race began 70-riders took off but seven didn’t finish for various mechanical reasons. Virtually all the riders arriving at the finish line had good comments about the race and course.

• Saturday was for another group of racers but this time they used a short course and even shorter one for the Pee Wee riders.

All the Pee Wee class winners are listed in the results but there was no overall listing of the finishers. Still it was a good turnout as these are the next generation of riders earning their spurs before moving up the ranks.

In the combined Mini/Women/Vintage race Chris Loer, riding a bomber, won that overall followed by the Women’s winner Taylor Kemp. Taking fourth was the Mini Bike winner and 100cc Expert rider Mikey Majors.

Now everyone gets a couple of weeks before MRANN’s next event in the fall series, which is the annual race at Moon Rocks on Nevada Day/Halloween weekend. After that the points series ends in early November at Winnemucca.

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RESULTS

MRANN Fall Series – Round 3

Nightingale – Oct. 8/9, 2016

+Sunday:

Overall: 1.Dennis Belingheri, 2. Irving Powers, 3. Willy Heiss, 4. Jeff Tabrizi, 5. Austin Wilson, 6. Jack Reader, 7. Donavyn Morris, 8. Chris Maas, 9. Titan McKibben, 10. Randy Adams, 11. Ed Sellers, 12. Josh Wilson, 13. Chris Loer, 14. Jake Himphill, 15. Jesse Cunnally, 16. John Levie, 17. Devin Walker, 18. Dane Johnson, 19. Chuck Faul, 20. Mike Schwartz, 21. Kurtis Gray, 22. Logan Boe, 23. Colton Scudder, 24. Thomas Duncan, 25. Greg Fawcett, 26. Brandan Driscoll, 27. Jeff Robinson, 28. Nathan Owen, 29. Jon Stringer, 30. Jon Stringer, 31. John Rychlik, 32. Cody Jones, 33. Kyle Banta, 34. Matt Green, 35. Kevin Listman, 36. Reggie Wheeler, 37. Graden Riley, 38. Ryan Albert, 39. Steven Finch, 40. Steven Morgan, 41. Will Dearing, 42. Pete Prichard, 43. Eric Wylie, 44. Jarred Johnson, 45. Jeff Engelke, 46. Nicholas Lapin, 47. Mike Green, 48. Mikey Majors, 49. Nicholas Prater, 50. Tyson McGary, 51. Tyson McGary, 52. Greg Wyman, 53. Cody Schlefstein, 54. Bryan Cameron, 55. Gus Loring, 56. Greg Loring, 57. Hayden Fulk, 58. Greg Ekins, 59. Justin Campbell, 50. C.J. LaCruze, 61. Chris LaCruze, 62. Conner McGowan, 63. Vernon Foster.

+ Sunday Class Winners:

+ 60+: Chris Loer

+ 50+:

Ama: StevMorgan.

Exp: Matt Green.

+ 40+:

Nov: John Rychlik.

Ama: Chuck Faul

Exp: Dennis Belingheri

+ 30:

Nov: Branden Riley.

Ama: Jake Himphill

Exp: Willy Heiss.

+ Open:

Nov: Andrew Robinson.

Ama: Dane Johnson.

Exp: Irving Powers

+ 4-Stroke:

Nov: Jon Stringer.

Ama: Logan Boe.

Exp: Jeff Tabrizi.

+ 250:

Nov: Reggie Wheeler.

Ama: Devin Walker.

Exp: Jesse Cunnally.

+ 200:

Nov: Gus Loring.

Ama: Kurtis Gray.

Exp: Austin Wilson.

• Saturday:

+ Mini/Women Overall: 1. Chris Loer, 2. Taylor Kemp, 3. Scott Martin, 4. Mikey Majors, 5. Henry Anderson, 6. Kendrick Martin, 6. Aric Furlong, 7. Zach Geddry, 8. Annette Castillo, 9. Carson Calder, 10. Colleen Connors, 11. Nikki Hannon, 12. Cody McGary, 13. Curtis Calder, 14. Camie Ingram, 15. Elliette Kennedy, 16. Sheah Ferrara, 17. Amanda Ross, 18. Chrystal Ponsock, 19. Jessie Himphill, 20. Blair Rankin, 21. Lawson Williams, 22. Ezra Belingheri, 23. Austin Hough, 24. Suzanne Andersen,      25. Angie Figg, 26. Kelly Miller, 27. Karen Loer, 28. Jordan Maas, 29. Danielle Horneman, 30. Gage Baca, 31. Erin Grieve, 32. Anthony Braun, 33. Allyson Wilson, 34. Michael Furlong, 35. Garrett Dean, 36. Miles Silva, 37. Caleb McGary, 38. Morgan Martin.

+ Class Winners:

Vintage/Bomber: Chris Loer.

+ 100cc:

Exp: Mikey Majors.

Ama: Aric Furlong.

Nov: Zach Geddry.

+ Women:

Nov: Nikke Hannon.

Ama: Colleen Connors.

Exp: Taylor Kemp.

+ 65cc:

Ama: Austin Hough.

Exp: Anthony Braun.

+ Pee Wee:

65 Nov: Peyton Danghletee.

7-Over: Landen Williams.

6-Under: Jesse Miller.

4-Stroke: Ava Delaney.