The 100s Motorcycle Club went all out to make its 50th Annual Johnson Valley Championship at the Cougar Buttes area in the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area near Lucerne Valley, California, a memorable weekend.As round eight of the nine-race Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series, though, points leader Gary Sutherlin overlooked the desert-racing history museum, the hospitality area and the live band on Saturday night.
But The only thing on Sutherlin’s mind was locking up the championship and thus adding it to the WORCS title he’d wrapped up a few weeks ago. (And if he managed to do that, he’d become the first man since the late Kurt Caselli to pull that off.) So, his plan of attack was just like any other race, meaning he’d go all-out for the win, which would guarantee him taking the championship from friend and training buddy Ricky Brabec.
“Just trying to go out and get points plays head games on you,” Sutherlin said, the Purvines DA8 Racing Yamaha rider continuing, “I went out and just was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to win it and get it off my back and maybe even race the last EnduroCross or doing something [else] fun.’ Actually, wrapping it up early gives me a little bit more time to start training for next year.”
And wrap it up he did, leading almost all the way on a nearly perfect (but extremely dusty day for anyone following) in the dez. That gives him an unbeatable 194 points going into the finale next month.
Behind the new champ, there seemed to be many tales of woe. Taylor Robert of the FMF KTM Factory Off-road Racing Team got a horrible start (probably due to twitching the throttle as he pressed the electric-start button), forcing him to abandon the line he’d worked so long on and swing way wide in search of cleaner air. Eventually, he worked his way to third, passing Jacob Argubright when he came upon the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-road Team rider laying on the ground. After a quick stop to check on his rival (who’d won Best in the Desert’s Tonopah 250 in Nevada the day before), Robert sped off but couldn’t get close to Sutherlin by the end of a 104-mile race that kept getting more difficult with each of the three loops. He finished almost three and a half minutes behind Sutherlin, who finished the race in three hours, five minutes and 27 seconds. In doing so, Robert leapt to second in points at 154, with Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda’s Ricky Brabec—the defending series champ—forced to retire with a destroyed radiator after a horrible start. Brabec slipped from second to fourth in points with 131.
Nick Burson led briefly after the start (and made for a Purvines DA8 Racing 1-2-3 at the bomb, with Axel Pearson sitting third) and put in a good ride for third, only his second podium of what’s been a trying year. Pearson’s fourth-place finish puts him third in points with 140 while Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts CRF450X-mounted Justin Morgan took fifth and is fifth in points at 123.
SRT Yamaha rider Ryan Smith also overcame a poor start, working his way to sixth at the finish, a few minutes ahead of Chidester Transport Racing Yamaha’s Tyler Lynn, the FMF Pro 250 winner for the fourth time this season to add that championship to the Super Mini crown he earned last year.
Brody Honea borrowed his dad’s old WR450F and took it to eighth overall followed by Beta’s Joe Wasson, who made his return to the series after suffering a major hand injury at round two in February. Under instructions to just get the race under his belt, he cruised to a solid ninth overall with FMF Pro 250 runner-up Cole Conatser rounding out the top 10 in his first-ever National.
In Women A, Brandy Richards romped to her second win in a row with FMF KTM Factory Off-road Racing Team’s Kacy Martinez-Coy second after a less-than-desirable start. But that was enough for the first-year desert racer to add the class championship to her collection of enduro, GNCC and X Games titles.
Round eight served as the Youth H&H finale so AMA Off-road Racing Manager Erek Kudla had plenty of number-one plates to hand out on Saturday. Among the winners were Mason Matthies (Super Mini), McKane Tolley (Mini 85cc, 12-15, after finishing second to Otto Pearson for the day), Karson Boyce (Junior Mini 85cc, 7-11, after finishing second to Ridge Broadhead on the day), Jett Lessing (Micro Mini 65cc, 7-11), Ryker Sperry (Pee Wee 50cc, 4-8), Kassidy Laswell (Girls, 12-15, after finishing second to Laci Olivas for the day) and Ty Woolslayer (Junior Girls 7-11).
For complete results, visit www.nationalhareandhound.com.
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