It took Purvines DA8 Racing Yamaha’s Gary Sutherlin only a few miles to work his way into the lead of the Gas It Off-Road Racing Series’ Tarantula 100, hosted by the Prairie Dawg Motorcycle Club at the Red Sands Off-Highway Vehicle Area south of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
And once out front, there was no touching him as he sailed to a convincing triumph at the race serving as round two in the Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series.
Sutherlin completed the three loops and 112 miles (loop one being 40 miles and loop two 36, then repeated to make three loops) in two hours, 32 minutes and eight seconds while Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda’s Ricky Brabec—the round-one winner and the current series champ—rebounded from a poor start to finish second in 2:33:52.
That moved Sutherlin to second in points behind Brabec, 55-51, unofficially.
Like Brabec, Jacob Argubright of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-road Team got off to a slow start and played catchup all day, though it took him longer to make passes. By the time he made his way into third place on loop two, Sutherlin and Brabec were nowhere to be seen. Argubright settled for third, finishing the Hare & Hound in 2:36:50.
Luckily for Sutherlin, his pre-race prep, which included running a sand tire, didn’t backfire.
“It was a mistake, but at the same time it paid off,” Sutherlin said. “I mean, I still won. I watched video coming into the round and it was all sand , and I mounted [a sand tire] up in case. We went and rode yesterday and everything close to the pits was sand!So I was, ‘Okay, I’m going to run that tire!’ Then we get about five miles out [during the race] and it was all hard-packed, hard pan roads. Oh man!
“So that’s why on the second loop I was trying to be a little conservative with the tire because there was a lot of rock and road,” Sutherlin continued. “I knew that I had to keep a little bit of the knobs left for at least the third loop. Once [on] the third loop, I just pinned it to get away. There’s not much left of it [the tire], but hey, it still worked. Everybody laughed; they were like, ‘There’s nothing left of the tire!’ And I was like, ‘Well, it got me out [front] early and it helped there, so I can’t complain.’”
Brabec lamented that he got one of his famous dead-last starts.
“Gary [Sutherlin] got a good start,” Brabec said. “I tried to make up as much time as I could, but with Gary and me having the same [training] program back at home—we live a mile away from each other so we burn in trails together, we ride trails together and do motos together. I kind of wish that I’d had a good start to battle it out with Gary; I never really got close enough to him, maybe 20 seconds. I had him in my sights, but me and Gary were both riding really well today.”
Being left in the back of the start cost Argubright even more time than one might expect.
“We got going and it was chaos,” Argubright said. “I saw [Beta’s] Joe [Wasson] walking around; he’d crashed. (He was soon transported by air to undergo surgery on compound fractures in his arm plus a severely dislocated wrist.) Then someone crashed in front of me, and I hit him and stalled the bike and actually did that twice! The second time I got wedged between the motor and front wheel. That really sucked! I was just playing catch-up all day.”
The last rider Argubright got by was Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts Honda’s Justin Morgan, thus denying Morgan his first National Hare & Hound podium. Purvines DA8 Racing Yamaha teammates Axel Pearson and Nick Burson were next across the line, finishing a close fifth and sixth respectively with only four seconds separating them at the finish. Burson made up a deficit of 21 seconds at the beginning of the final loop.
Cody Schafer was the first “local/non-regular” Hare & Hound racer, finishing seventh aboard his Moto Adventure Kawasaki in seventh. He was followed by Travis Porter, DirtBikes.com regular test rider Nic Garvin and Ryan Smith. Nick Stover was 11th overall and first two-stroke, leading the first three FMF Pro 250 finishers: Chidester Transport Racing Yamaha’s Tyler Lynn (the 15-year-old’s first Pro triumph in only his second season in the class), Braydon Bland and Nick Tolman.
In Women A, privateer Britney Gallegos successfully fought off repeated attacks by FMF KTM Factory Off-road Racing Team’s Kacy Martinez to earn her first victory in the class. Gallegos prevailed by just five seconds at the finish while Stephanie Woolslayer took third.
2017 Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series
Gas it Offroad Racing Series Tarantula 100
Prairie Dawg M.C.
Alamogordo, New Mexico
Results: February 13, 2017 (Round 2 of 10)
Overall
1. Gary Sutherlin-Yam (first Open Pro)
2. Ricky Breabec-Hon
3. Jacob Argubright-Hus
4. Justin Morgan-Hon
5. Axel Pearson-Yam
6. Nick Burson-Yam
7. Cody Schafer-Kaw
8. Travis Porter
9. Nic Garvin-Hon
10. Ryan Smith-Yam
11. Nick Stover-TM
12. Tyler Lynn-Yam (first Pro 250)
13. Braydon Bland-KTM
14. Nick Tolman-KTM
15. Taylor Stevens-Hus
16. Norgan Crawford-Hus
17. Grant Stately-Yam
18. Levii Hutchings (first A Open)
19. John Pfuhl-KTM
20. Daemon Woolslayer-Yam
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