Desert racing is as old-school as it gets, and every so often you find a fierce battle for the lead billowing in the thick dust surrounding the racecourse. And that’s exactly what happened at the 2022 edition of the Silver State 300, a 300-mile point-to-point race just outside of Alamo, Nevada, April 30.

The race for the overall win was an all-out dog fight between the top three for a majority of the 300 miles. The 1-800-Dent-Doc/Kenda KTM duo of Hayden Hintz/Trevor Hunter got the quick jump over the 3Bros./DT Racing KTM team of Jeremy Newton/Jeff Trulove, making first dust and setting the pace high early on.

Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Skyler Howes started out third ahead of Skaggs Racing Honda’s Jarrett Megla/Tucker Hopkins to complete the Open Pro field.

The first 100 miles saw the N1 Hintz/Hunter team out front, holding a steady one-minute gap to the N2 Newton/Trulove team, who felt the pressure from Howes, as he slowly reeled them in over the first third of the race. Nearing the halfway point, all three riders tightened up and were within seconds of each other, as the N1 team saw their lead diminish. Hintz credited an unopened gate causing him to stop for a moment, allowing the other riders to make up some ground. From there, the race was on and the N1 and N2 teams swapped positions back and forth, each capitalizing on mistakes made by the other team trying to sprint away.

Meanwhile, the veteran Howes sat back and watched as the front runners traded the lead and mistakes. Howes made his move on the N1 team when they had a run-in with a barbed wire fence. Howes rode past as they watched helplessly, entangled in the fencing.

From that point on, Howes set sail to another Silver State victory, amassing a few minutes lead over the final 80 miles of the race. The fight for second was a close one, with the Newton/Trulove team just edging out Hintz/Hunter at the finish line by 27 seconds.

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