words and photos courtesy HUSQVARNA
Skyler Howes has won the prestigious Vegas to Reno desert race held in Nevada , USA . Riding his Husqvarna Factory Racing FR 450 Rally in the event , Howes fought back from a difficult qualifying session to take the win on what was an especially tough 2022 edition of the race .
Starting just outside of Las Vegas and covering nearly 500 miles on its way to the finish near Reno , the event is famous for being America ’ s longest and fastest single-day offroad race . With rain and flooding in the area causing the organisers to alter much of this year ’ s route , riders faced an extra-technical , but shortened race due to detours around some of the worst hit sections of the traditional course .
To add extra interest to this year ’ s race , organisers included the Open Pro class in Thursday ’ s time trial qualification . However , the added challenge didn ’ t work out well for Howes as a crash on the short threemile loop resulted in the Husqvarna rider starting as the very last pro competitor in Friday ’ s main race .
Using both his skill and judgement to battle his way through the dust raised by the racers ahead of him , Howes steadily made progress through the course of the event . With his pit crew delivering a faultless and fast service throughout the day , Skyler was able to
VOL . 7 ISSUE 9 - SEPTEMBER 2022 // PAGE 49