Courtesy of NationalHareandHound.com
After battling for first most of the race, Abbott found himself in second with 20 miles to go. He couldn’t see the leader anymore, but kept the pace up to the finish.
Round 5 of the AMA/KENDA National Hare and Hound Championship series took racers east to Utah to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes. The SageRiders MC laid out over 100 miles of course, and racers enjoyed thousands of feet of elevation change, while spending time in terrain varying from deep sand dunes to snow covered patches of trail.
Team JCR
Honda and their powerhouse of Kendall Norman were on fire for the third race in a row, but things wouldn't be smooth sailing as Norman would quickly find out. Highly regulated BLM stipulations including a requirement to walk all bikes across one of the road crossings meant that Norman would be spending an extra minute of penalty time in the pits, and Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Destry Abbott was able to capitalize.
The factory effort was strong from both FMF/
KTM and Zip Ty
Husqvarna while Nick Burson finished within the top ten, and the duo of David Kamo and Dave Pearson both enjoyed finishes within the top five - Kamo getting the better end of the deal and a third overall finish.
On the Amateur side of things, big contingencies were handed out to winners in all A and B classes. Darell Daane was a big winner on the day scoring a free pair of Fasst Flex handlebars for being the first "C-Rider" to reach the bomb! The handlebars were a welcomed site, and he was happy to hold them up atop the podium at the finish!
Both Blake Miller and Ken Strebel will be receiving a certificate good for a Fork and Shock service from Travis "Tuner" at TBT Racing. Finishing as first overall "B" and "C" racers, they both seemed to be overwhelmingly happy to be on top of the NHHA Podium set up. Sharing words with NHHA announcer George Antill, the two had the chance of a lifetime to stand up in front of the Utah Crowd.
Local rider Shawn Strong rode hard against the field of extremely fast pro riders and held on passing Justin Imhof just a few miles before the finish to take a 10th overall position. At first two stroke, the "Open A" racer got his fair share of support from the local crowd showing that it was humanly possible to crack the top 10 as a local racer.
Abbott was surprised by the reception as he crossed the finish line, not knowing he had won.
Back on the pro side of things, Norman regained the lead and lead for almost the remainder of the race, until a mishap in a field of cows would leave him searching for the trail. Abbott saw the mistake and capitalized allowing the Monster energy rider to be first into the finish shoot. With the valuable asset of first place points, Abbott now sits only three points back of Kendall in the series overall championship chase.
With the season at the half way point, things have mixed up very well on the pro side of the points chase. We have had 4 different winners, and have three riders within 10 points of each other for the series championship. Behind them, there is a 4-way battle for who will finish 5th overall and hold the highest non-factory plate for 2011.
Round 6 brings racers home to Southern California where the Vikings MC will host their annual Virgin Voyage which is sure to have its fair share of rocks and "virgin" terrain.
For more information check out
www.NationalHareandHound.com
Hare and Hound Round 5 Results:
Pro Class
1. Destry Abbott, Kawasaki
2. Kendall Norman, Honda
3. David Kamo, Ktm
4. Gary Sutherlin, Kawasaki
5. David Pearson, Ktm
6. Robert Underwood, Kawasaki
7. Morgan Crawford, Ktm
8. Jacob Argubright, Kawasaki
9. Nick Burson, Husqvarna
10. Shawn Strong, Ktm
Pro Class Points
1. Kendall Norman, Honda, -119
2. Destry Abbott, Kawasaki, - 116
3. David Kamo, Ktm, - 108
4. David Pearson, Ktm, - 80
5. Jacob Argubright, Kawasaki, - 65
By Jacob Argubright
Jacob Argubright finds his way to another round of Hare and Hound racing to take on the pros.
My trip to Utah started off pretty much just like any other Utah National Hare and Hound trip has. Ryan, My dad, and I piled in the motorhome and took turns driving while Ed drove the big truck the whole way and followed us up to Jericho.
On the way, we had to stop at Chris and Patty Blais’s to drop off some equipment that my dad had built for the NHHA trailer. While we were there, Morgan Crawford was working in the garage, and we surprised them with lunch while Chris and Morgan continued to work in the Garage. They had about 5 different bikes torn apart, and were working to get them finished before they left for Jericho.
After we had left, we stopped in Vegas to pick up Jerry Jones and continued on to Beaver where we stayed the night. Friday morning we woke up early and finished the drive into the staging area where we were overwhelmed by the organization that the Sageriders had incorporated into their event. We were greeted and immediately informed on the schedule of events for the weekend, and where I could ride to warm up. Hospitality like that is a big thing when you have traveled as far as we did.
Around 11 am Ryan Smith, Josh Smith, and I went riding and found what was probably the biggest jump in Utah! It was pretty cool, and fun to sow off in front of the locals for a bit, but the day before was really about the business and we spent some time playing up in the Juniper Trees. These things are unlike anything else where ever we ride, and it was important for me to get some seat time in them, including a couple crashes to get used to the feel of the dirt.
Race Day - Utah
Having the race time at 11 am is a good thing as it let us really get a good night’s rest. Ryan had to get up at 6 to help with signups, but I got to sleep in till about 7 o clock. When I got outside Ed had the bike ready, and at 8 Destry, Gary Sutherlin and I went and pre-ran the bomb. It seemed like all of the faster guys had a good line off to the Right of the start, but I was happy with a line on the far left. After about 8 runs and more sand then I was really hoping for it was time for the riders meeting.
Argubright charges through the loose Utah soil as he catches up to the pack after a bad start.
They told us a bit about what to expect, and what not to do, and that was about it. As soon as it was over, we all rushed to the start line, and luckily no one had taken my line. It seemed like out of nowhere that the banner was up and then they were off! I say they because literally everyone but me was off. My bike didn’t light and It was three kicks before I too was following behind. It took me literally about a ¼ mile and I had taken my first soil sample. AND IT WAS A BIG ONE.
I guess I was just trying to get ahead of as many as possible before we hit the trail head, and I swapped on something. Im really not too sure what it was, but I went down hard and fast. Ryan Kudla stopped for me, and once I was up and moving he went on. The bike started right up, and I just started picking people off one at a time. The big problem at that point was that I had no front brake. I must have clipped something with it because I could feel the rotor pulsing as I rode. At the alternate gas I told Jerry that I needed a new front wheel. He said I had worked my way into 7th, and I as I handed back the dry break (we had to fuel our own bikes) I clicked it into gear and took off.
It was pretty uneventful throughout the remainder of the first loop. With a few miles to go before the pits we had a checkpoint and they told us that we needed to get off and walk our bikes across a road crossing. I thought it was funny, but I complied and just got off and ran. Apparently Kendall didn’t get the memo to walk across and was actually penalized for a whole minute before he started his second loop.
Into the pits Ed, Ryan, and Johnny had a tire ready for me, and I saw the NHHA announcer George was ready for the play by play. I couldn’t get my bike into neutral and ended up fumbling across the pit in front of about 100 people! Pretty funny but I was just excited that I was going to have breaks again. While they were doing the change Morgan got past me and I moved back into 8th place.
Despite all the troubles Jacob came out with solid finish in the top-10 and currently sits in fifth place in points.
About a mile out I went down again, but it was just because I grabbed too much break and ended up breaking off a Fastway hand guard. I wasn’t hurt and the bike kept running, so it really wasn’t too big of a deal. Loop two was pretty much just that. I could always see Morgan’s dust, but just couldn’t really make up any time. He rode well, and I did everything I could. I settled for 8th overall, but was happy considering that I had a few guys come up after the race to check and see if I was alright.
After the race, it was a marathon as Ed and Jerry scrambled to get my bike ready for the Rovers race the next morning, 12-hours away from where we were! Unfortunately we had to wait for the race to complete so that Ryan could finish the results and we actually didn’t leave Jericho until about 6 pm.
I slept pretty much the whole way into Lucerne Valley, and not until we honestly parked the motorhome (3 AM) did I really start to wake up! Go figure, right?
As always, thanks to all of my sponsors whom without I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Kawasaki of Simi Valley, Off Road Suport, TBT Racing, FMF, IMS, BRP, Rekluse, Pro Moto Billet, Fastway, and Alliancemoto.com.
The next two weeks are big for me, as I will be at Racetown for my first
WORCS race and then the next NHHA event in Johnson Valley with the Vikings.
See you in the Desert!
-Jacob
Jacob911.com
