BETE 500RS DUAL-SPORT FIRST RIDE: THE WRAP

Rodney Smith personally delivered our 2024 Beta 500RS a couple of weeks ago. You gotta love it when a five-time GNCC champion drops by, hands you the keys to one of the greatest dual-sport bikes on earth and just says “Have fun.”

The Beta 500RS is a barely legal dual-sport.
We’ve been doing our best. The Beta is an incredible bike. It’s the least bottled up of the fully certified 500cc dual-sports–even the KTM and Husky 500s can’t keep up. Two years ago, Tom Webb loved the bike so much that he purchased one for himself and he still prefers riding it over the many test bikes he has available. This year, there aren’t many changes for the Beta dual-sport line. The most noticeable one is a change in the name. It’s now called the 500RS rather than the 500RR. For 2024, the “RR” suffix refers to the dirt-only four-stroke models in Beta’s line up. Those haven’t been available for a few years, and that takes a little pressure off the street-legal models. It doesn’t have to serve two different masters. It does, however, make it difficult for Beta dealers to keep all the models on the showroom floor. As in the past, there are four dual-sport bikes that look virtually identical. The 500 shares its chassis and most of its motor with a 430, a 390 and a 350. When you ask Beta officials why they don’t thin down the hurd, they say it’s like trying to decide which of your children you love the most.

The Beta 500RS sells for $11,799. Our test bike is stock aside from the Seat Concepts tall saddle.
The more mechanically oriented changes for 2024 include formed radiators to increase the turning sweep from lock to lock, a softer seat, a new front brake hose, new fork settings, new graphics and a redesigned taillight/license-plate holder. The 500RS has a double overhead cam motor with a six-speed gearbox. The suspension is by Sachs, the brakes are Nissin and the tires on our test bike are Maxxis. All RS models include the Trail Tech Voyager GPS unit with the ability to upload and download riding routes. Other features include a trip meter, a speedo, a tach, engine temp, outside temp and a voltmeter.

This is one of the very few dual-sport bikes that doesn’t need anything. Most owners of Austrian dual-sport bikes eventually go looking for more power, and that can be difficult. It’s not like you can just install a pipe and go racing. The mapping on all the street legal bikes is very lean and the CPU is supposed to be tamper-proof. We know lots of riders who have managed to jail break their ignition systems, but the point is that you don’t have to do that with the Beta. Apparently, Beta is willing to fly closer to the sun with the stock emission settings. The bike is also a little louder than other dual-sport bikes, but still very quiet by dirt bike standards.

Riding it is just like riding a real dirt bike. It’s reasonably light (255 pounds without fuel on our scale) and reasonably powerful. You still have to understand that this is a trail bike not a 450 race bike. You can go hill-climbing with the boys and be shamed, but if you think you’re going to visit a motocross track, you will run out of steam quickly. Likewise, the suspension is very trail oriented. It’s great for rocky trails but is very soft and will wallow and bottom if you get carried away. The brakes are excellent and it has a super light clutch pull. We also love all the detailing. The mirrors fold out of your way, it has decent handguards and the new license plate bracket still hasn’t gotten sucked into the rear wheel.

If you’re one of those guys who has to modify everything he owns, suspension should be the first item on the list. Put motor work in third or fourth place. We will have the Beta side by side with the new KTM 500EXC very soon and that should be a very interesting comparison. The full test will appear in the March, Buyer’s Guide print edition of Dirt Bike.

MASON KLEIN & KOVE
Mason Klein and his father/chief mechanic Larry.
Mason Klein is deep in Dakar training. The rally starts on January 5 and will take place in Saudi Arabia for the fifth time. Mason will be officially supported by Chinese manufacturer Kove, which is a very big step for both parties. This will be Mason’s first time on a factory bike and the first time that Kove has had a top-5 rider. We have definitely been enjoying our Kove test bike, which you can read about here.

The Dakar route for 2024.

THE CASELLI CUP

Each year at this time we select the finalists for the Caselli Cup, otherwise known as America’s Top Off-road racers. This is a snapshot view of the best riders going into the new season. The list will be dropped on January 1, 2024. Here are the riders being considered and what they have accomplished in the previous season. Who are you pulling for? drop us a line at [email protected].

GNCC Overall

1 CRAIG DELONG — 3 wins–246 points

2 STEWARD BAYLOR JR — 2 wins–235

3 BENJAMIN KELLEY — 2 wins–215

4 JORDAN ASHBURN — 1 win–201

5 RICKY RUSSELL — 1 win–175

6 GRANT BAYLOR — 1 win–173

7 JOSH STRANG — 1 win–170

8 JONATHAN GIRROIR — 1 win–145

9 ANGUS RIORDAN — XC2 –Best finish 7th o/a–135

10 LIAM DRAPER — XC2 — Best finish 4th o/a–131

11 CODY BARNES — Best finish 5th–121

12 RUY BARBOSA — Best finish 7th–104

13 RYDER LAFFERTY — Best finish 5th–91

14 MICHAEL WITKOWSKI Best finish 3rd–84

15 MASON SEMMENS –Best finish 7th–67

16 EVAN SMITH — Best finish 8th–55

17 TREVOR BOLLINGER — Best finish 6th–50

18 GRANT DAVIS — Best finish 9th–49

19 LYNDON SNODGRASS — Best finish 8th–47

20 JONATHAN JOHNSON — Best finish 7–42

GNCC XC2

1 LIAM DRAPER — 3 wins

2 ANGUS RIORDAN — 2 wins

3 CODY J BARNES — 1 win

4 RUY BARBOSA — 2 wins

5 MASON SEMMENS — best finish 2nd

GNCC XCW

1 RACHAEL ARCHER 9 wins

2 KORIE STEEDE 3 wins

3 RACHEL GUTISH

NGPC 450 Pro

1 DANTE OLIVEIRA –6 win– 232

2 RYAN SURRATT — 2 wins–175

3 AUSTIN WALTON — 2 2nds–167

4 COLE MARTINEZ — 1 win–158

5 JUSTIN HOEFT — 2 2nds–140

6 MATEO OLIVEIRA — 1 3rd–118

7 ZACH BELL –1 3rd–112

8 TYLER LYNN — 1 3rd–109

9 DALTON SHIREY — 1 4th–107

10 GIACOMO REDONDI — 3 7th–104

11 TALLON LA FOUNTAINE — 1 3rd–88

12 TREVOR STEWART — 3 5th–74

13 DARE DEMARTILE — 1 2nd–62

NGPC Pro2

1 KADE TINKLER-WALKER 6 wins

2 JACK SIMPSON 1 win

3 COLTON AECK 1 win

4 JP ALVAREZ 1 win

5 KAI AIELLO 1 second

6 COLE ZELLER 2 5ths

7 THOMAS DUNN 1 5th

8 COLLIER MARTINEZ 1 4th

9 CLAY HENGEVELD 2 8th

10 CODY SIMPSON

National Enduro Overall

1 Grant Baylor — 3 wins — 227

2 Steward Baylor Jr — 4 wins — 200

3 Josh Toth — 1 win — 194

4 Craig Delong — 1 win –166

5 Ryder Lafferty — Best finish 2nds –154

6 Ricky Russell — Best finish 2nd — 145

7 Liam Draper Pro2 — Best finish 2nd o/a– 126

8 Thorn Devlin Pro2 — Best finish 6th o/a — 83

9 Evan Smith — Best finish 5th — 72

10 Nathaniel Tasha Pro2 — Best finish 8th o/a –24

National Enduro Pro2

1 Liam Draper — 4 wins

2 Thorn Devlin — 4 wins

3 Nathaniel Tasha — Best finish 2nds

4 Jonathan Johnson — Best finish 2nds

5 Will Sievenpiper — Best finish 2nd

6 Grant Davis — Best finish 2nd

7 Steve Nicholas III — Best finish 3rds

8 Brody Johnson — Best finish 7th

9 Mike Witkowski — Best finish 2nd

10 Vincent Smith — Best finish 8th

WORCS PRO 450

1 JUSTIN HOEFT — 3 wins

2 MATEO OLIVEIRA — 2 wins

3 TYLER LYNN — 2 wins

4 ZACH BELL — Best finish 2nd

5 TALLON LAFOUNTAINE –1 win

6 COLE MARTINEZ –1 win

7 TREVOR STEWART — Best finish 3rd

8 DARE DEMARTILE — Best finish 2nd

9 QUENTIN PAHI — Best finish 8th

10 KADE WALKER Best finish 5th

12 Giacomo Redoni

16 Dalton Shirey

WORCS PRO 250

1 JACK SIMPSON 3 wins 210

2 JAKE ALVAREZ 1 win 145

3 COLTON AECK — Best finish 2nd 143

4 KAI AIELLO — Best finish 2nd 134

5 THOMAS DUNN — Best finish 3rd 127

AMA Hare & Hound

1 Dalton Shirey — 5 wins — 171

2 Zane Roberts — 117

3 Carter Klein — 100

4 Clayton Roberts — 93

5 Joseph Wasson — 82

6 Preston Campbell — 77

7 Nic Colangeli — 56

8 Tyler Lynn — 1 win — 55

9 Axel Pearson — 43

10 Corbin Mcpherson — 42

AMA Hard Enduros

1 TRYSTAN HART 6 wins 195

2 CODY WEBB 4 2nd places 150

3 RYDER LEBLOND 2 2nd places 136

4 WILL RIORDAN 112

5 COLTON HAAKER 99

6 BRANDEN PETRIE 80

7 JAMES FLYNN 70

8 LOGAN BOLOPUE 54

9 COOPER ABBOTT 54

10 QUINN WENTZEL 53

ENDUROCROSS

1 TRYSTAN HART -3 wins

2 JONNY WALKER -2 wins

3 COLTON HAAKER -1 win

4 CODY WEBB

5 RYDER LEBLOND

6 COOPER ABBOTT

7 MAX GERSTON

8 WILL RIORDAN

9 TADDY BLAZUSIAK

10 DOMINIK OLSZOWY

AMA West Hare Scrambles

1 Dante Oliveria –5 wins–171

2 Giacomo Redondi –1 win– 146

3 Zane Roberts — 112

4 Joseph Wasson — 96

5 Jaden Dahners — 85

6 Tyler Vore — 85

7 Layton Smail — 83

8 Mason Ottersberg — 76

9 Austin Walton — 68

10 Ryder Thomaselli — 57

FULL GAS SPRINT ENDURO

1 Layne Michael — 3 wins — 161

2 Joshua Strang — 3 wins — 158

3 Tyler Medaglia — 42

4 Ricky Russell — 39

5 Michael McLean — 32

6 Mike Witkowski — 25

7 Lyndon Snodgrass — 25

8 Trevor Bollinger — 21

9 Steward Baylor — 18

10 Ben Nelko — 18

BITD

1 Hayden Hintz — 233

2 Danny Cooper — 78

3 Mason Klein — 78

4 Jesse Canepa — 75

5 Mike Baxter — 73

6 David Broderick v42

7 Chris Brown — 41

US Sprint Enduro

1 JOSH TOTH — 411

2 LAYNE MICHAEL — 399

3 LIAM DRAPER — 315

US Sprint Enduro 250 Class

1 Cody Barnes — 470

2 Thorn Devlin — 360

3 Angus Riordan — 357

JDAY

1 Chris Canning — 281

2 Brandon Gregoire — 260

3 Simon Johnson — 254

4 Gavin Simon — 236

5 Brayden Nolette — 216

13 Ben Kelley — 75

29 Ricky Russell — 25

29 Stewart Baylor — 25

32 Josh Toth — 22

ISDE Trophy Scratch

3 Dante Oliveira E2 — 6′ 08. 44

4 Taylor Robert E2 — 7′ 19. 64

5 Johnny Girroir E2 — 8′ 14. 36

9 Cole Martinez E2 — 11′ 28. 91

14 Mateo Oliveira E2 — 13′ 33. 87

29 Grant Davis E1 — 22′ 53. 44

34 Kai Aiello E2 — 26′ 17. 19

51 Brandy Richards E1 — 42′ 46. 16

64 Korie Steede E1 — 59′ 15. 22

68 Rachel Gutish E2 — 1:03′ 04. 51

ISDE Club Scratch

1 Josh Toth c2 leader

2 Preston Campbell c2 — 10′ 59. 14

3 Jaden Dahners c1 — 12′ 58. 49

4 Austin Serpa c2 — 14′ 55. 73

5 Axel Pearson c2 — 15′ 19. 27

8 Devlin Thorn c2 — 17′ 04. 61

10 Jhak Walker c1 — 19′ 26. 42

11 Hunter Smith c2 — 19′ 51. 37

12 Ryan Surratt c2 — 19′ 56. 62

17 Trevor Maley c1 — 25′ 13. 17

18 Nathan Ferderer c2 — 25′ 40. 96

23 Chase Bright c1 — 30′ 25. 13

26 Jackson Davis c2 — 34′ 54. 07

38 John Beal c1 — 44′ 21. 26

41 Kyle Tichenor c2 — 45′ 22. 07

52 Ava Silvestri c1 — 54′ 46. 63

71 Rick Emerson c3 — 1:09′ 17. 75

155 Jeremy Shoning c2 — 7:36′ 10.10 — ret

162 Nolan Cate c1 — 9:35′ 38.17 — ret

164 Zachary Toth c2 — 9:37′ 10. 36 — ret

172 Cade Henderson c1 — 11:41′ 52. 35 — ret

World Rally Standings

9 Ricky Brabec

10 Skyler Howes

14 Mason Klein

See you next year!

–Ron Lawson