Matlock/Prull Win Henderson's Terrible 400 Battle - Chislock/Frederick Take BITD War

The final round of Best in the Desert's Silver State Series—the Henderson's Terrible 400—promised to be a no-holds-barred über-battle because of the fact that a mere 15 points separated the top five Quad Pro teams. Points leaders Cyle Chislock and partner Josh Frederick held the upper hand with 304 points and enjoyed a six-point cushion over their rivals, the closest of whom were Nick Granlund and Shaun Moore with 298. Here's where it got interesting. They had two points over Jimmy Stephensen and Greg Stuart's 296, while Wayne Matlock and Chad Prull sat in fourth with 295 points. And mathematically, Anthony Baker and Greg Row with 290 points had a shot as well.

So, in order to hold their spot at the top, Chislock and Frederick needed to win or place second, no matter what anyone else did—no small order, even considering they'd won the previous round in the five-race series, the TSCO Vegas to Reno 500-miler, after running into minor difficulties that come with a new partnership at the first three events.

"[The plan was to do] kind of what we've been doing all year—[ride] fast and hard but not over our heads," Frederick said. "See what happens toward the end of the day and then see if we needed to turn it up or just sit back."

The race outside of Henderson, Nevada, would be a tough one. Motorcycles and ATVs would start first, a couple hours before the trucks and buggies, and run 43 miles of the 70-mile truck/buggy loop. From there, they'd do six laps of a 35-mile bike/ATV-exclusive loop that included lots of rock, tight single-track and two-track, sand washes and more rock.

After some sorting out, the Michael Cafro/Dannny Prather team went to the front on their Temecula Motorsports/Maxxis/IMS Honda TRX450R, with defending series champs Matlock and Prull's Alba Suzuki/Elka/ITP LT-Z400 not far behind. The Chislock/Frederick team's Temecula Motorsports/Maxxis/IMS TRX450R soon settled into third place.

About halfway through the race, however, the Cafro/Prather bike pulled off the course and stopped, the rider obviously searching for something that seemed to be amiss. That was all the opportunity Matlock/Prull needed, and the Suzuki slipped into the lead to stay. Cafro/Prull would surrender yet another spot to teammates Chislock/Frederick on the final lap and place third Quad Pro.

Knowing that they had the championship wrapped up if they stayed in second was "a good feeling," Frederick noted, though he admitted, "On that last lap, you start to hear a lot of noises [from the bike]. Crazy things start going through your head.

"It would've been nice to win the race, for sure, but we knew what we needed to do—the championship's more important."

And the championship—the first for either—is what they ended up with. However, it appears that both will be going their separate ways next year, with Chislock concentrating on motocross and Frederick focusing more of his efforts on the WORCS races, as well as select desert events. In addition, there is talk of the Matlock/Prull team switching to Hondas and Stephensen retiring. In other words, 2006 should be another interesting year.

Henderson's Terrible 400 Top 10 ATV Results

1. Chad Prull/Wayne Matlock, Suzuki LT-Z400
2. Cyle Chislock/Josh Frederick, Honda TRX450R
3. Michael Cafro/Danny Prather, Honda TRX450R
4. Brandon Carter/Eric Lemley/David McCarroll, Honda
5. Jimmy Stephensen/Greg Stuart, Kawasaki KFX400
6. Brett Callen/Travis Dillon, Bombardier 650
7. Glenn Brchan/Ruben Wilson, Yamaha YFZ450
8. Bret Greenholz/Lynn Prosser, Bombardier 650
9. Pete Garcia/Todd Johnson/Patty A. Moore, Suzuki LT-Z400
10. Marc Choquette/Ray McKenzie/Eric Pealstrom, Honda

Final Series Points, Quad Pro

1. Chislock/Frederick, 381
2. Matlock/Prull, 376
3. Stephensen/Stuart, 367
4. Granlund/Moore, 332
5. Baker/Row, 325
6. Greenholz/Prosser, 302
7. Steve Beilman/Clark Evernham, 205
8. Shane Strunk, 201
9. Cafro/Prather, 196
10. Chris Farr/Jeff Hancock, 175