Riding the No. 818 Iron Horse BMW / Evan Steel Performance BMW S1000RR, Joe Dawson of Mesa, AZ won a cat-and-mouse race with the man who built his bike, narrowly beating Scott Bergen of Tucson, AZ in the Iron Horse BMW / Evan Steel Performance Unlimited Grand Prix on Sunday, May 22 at the inaugural motorcycle race at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Willcox, Az. “Scott has a little more experience on this track than I,” explained Dawson, who is affiliated with Jim Cox Racing and rides Dunlops. “We got to ride around a little in the morning and he was a big help. I knew I had to pick up the pace to stay in front of him, so that’s what I did. I tried to ride really hard on the spots I needed and then ride really defensive in the infield so he couldn’t pass me.” Dawson got the jump at the start and the pair managed to avoid incident when a rider went off track heading into Turn 1. Bergen, on the No. 319 Iron Horse BMW / Evan Steel Performance BMW S1000RR, enjoyed the give and take of the Unlimited GP race, as he finished only a fraction of a second behind Dawson at the checker. “We were running just about the same times,” said Bergen, also a Dunlop rider. “To make a pass was going to be difficult because I was going to have to come in hard on the brakes and he was doing a good job of blocking the line. My best opportunity was for him to slip a tire or run wide so I could duck in, but it didn’t happen. He ran a good smart race.” Riding Pirelli tires, Dave Siminski, of Tucson, finished third on the No. 61 Evolution Racing Suzuki GSX-R 1000. Dawson and Bergen also finished first and second in Unlimited Superbike, making it a successful weekend for Tucson-based Iron Horse BMW and Evan Steel Performance. The CCS Southwest event was the inaugural motorcycle race for Inde Motorsports Ranch. The series returns to Inde after its summer break on September 17th and 18th. XCEL Trackdays will be hosting a summer track day at INDE on Saturday, June 25. Beneath clear skies with mild temperatures, racers enjoyed running on the 2.75-mile road course. “This is the first race out here and it’s great to be a part of it,” said Bergen, who is a guest instructor at the Chris Peris Riding School, which is based at INDE. Dawson concurred: “This is an excellent club track and I feel lucky that Inde Motorsports Ranch let us race here and I’d like to thank CCS Southwest for making it happen.” CCS Southwest’s No. 1 plateholder and current points leader, XCEL Trackdays’ Ray Thibedeau of Phoenix, was unable to compete in Sunday’s event after breaking his collarbone in testing on Saturday. He hopes to recover in time for the September round. To see the rest of Sunday’s racing results or information regarding motorcycle racing in the Southwest please go to www.roadracesw.com. Registration for XCEL track days and for CCS Southwest’s Round 5 race weekend September 17th and 18th at Inde Motorsports Ranch is available at www.xceltrackdays.com.