Mud replaces dust at 2012 Desert 100

A week of rain showers was what one of the Stumpjumpers had asked for when he was in Odessa for the White Knuckle/Frostbite races the preceding weekend. He got his wish. There was no dust to be seen, so this race was different from every other Desert 100 that has been run on Wes and Faye King’s pasture a few miles outside of Odessa.

Riders came across the finish platform with their bikes, and often themselves, covered in mud. The campsite was a muddy mess in places, and food vendors said they were entertained by all of the rigs trying to make their way through the mud to their campsites. So many got stuck that the roadway eventually had to be moved a few feet over onto some drier ground.

Most of the serious racers appeared to be unfazed by the weather. They focused on speed, crash avoidance and the locations of their main competitors. The weather was more or less irrelevant.

Prochnau is overall winner

As he also did last year and in 2009 (injured in 2010, he did not compete that year), Canadian Bobby Prochnau was the top racer in the Desert 100 for 2012, coming in with the fastest time overall. He also took the first-place trophy in the open class. The Canadian contingent was well represented, and Prochnau had many friends and fans present to cheer him on.

The second-and third-place overall winners left the venue early, so there was no triad picture on the podium for the top three overall finishers.

David Kamo, an Idaho native, was second and gave Prochnau a real run for his money. The two traded the lead spot several times during the race, Prochnau said during his remarks on the trophy stand.

Women’s winner Bobby’s girl

Chantelle Bykerk of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, was the top female finisher, and she just happens to be also the girlfriend of Bobby Prochnau. So this power couple of dirt-bike racing made it a double win at the Desert 100. Bykerk had a similar experience to Prochnau’s during the race in competing with a very capable rival, another Canadian, Victoria Hett. Coming back from a crash early in the race, Bykerk was able to take the lead from Hett for the win.

Area racers

Odessa competitors were led by Sally Kagele, who came in fourth in the women’s race, her best finish yet. Last year she came in fifth. Sally’s brother Clint Knight competed in the men’s open class, and Andrew and Sam Schafer combined forces in the team race. Nick Kuest also entered the race, but his bike broke down, forcing him to leave it on the course and head for the campsite.

A promised email with the race results hadn’t arrived by press time, so we aren’t yet able to provide the names of all the Odessa and local area riders and their times. We hope to have that information by next week.

The usual dry and dusty conditions were not found at this year’s race. A solid week of off-and-on rain showers left puddles everywhere.

Saturday’s races also involved dodging passing rain showers and may have been the reason that the number of riders was down from last year.

Sunday’s endurance race saw a mixture of clouds and sunshine, but also a howling wind that made life rather miserable for the vendors still trying to sell food and drink. The Odessa Chamber’s beer tent was demolished by the wind, although president Marlon Schafer said he thought there might be enough salvageable material to put together one smaller tent out of what had been two tents put together to make a large one.

Only two vendors were left Sunday afternoon, and several riders took advantage of the fact to grab some lunch after they finished the race.

Despite the stormy weather, the visitors appeared to be having a wonderful time, as they always seem to do at the Desert 100. The Odessa firefighters once again provided free bus service between the site and downtown Odessa for visitors who might want to shop and for locals who wanted to visit the campsite.

There were the usual minor accidents, some of which required trips to the emergency room at Odessa Memorial, but nothing that appeared to be too serious.

All in all, it looks like it was a successful weekend for the Stumpjumpers, the Odessa business community and the many visitors who came to have fun.