Under sunny skies and very windy conditions, the first round of the 2009 west coast AMA National Hare & Hound Series was hosted by District 37's Desert Motorcycle Club (DMC) on Sunday, January 25th, in the Johnson Valley OHV area. It was an exciting first round with literally hundreds of riders lined up at the start line awaiting the 9:30am banner drop.The first loop was a 45-mile trek north from Bessemer Mine Road through sandy, cross-grain trails, over hills, around cactus, and headed east back around to the main pit area which was located in the Rockpile. The bomb-run start was a dusty, epic site with privateer racer Russ Pearson in the lead on his Blais Racing/Bullet Proof Designs/FMF/IMS/GPR sponsored KTM 530, followed by Red Bull/KTM's David Kamo, Monster/Kawasaki's Destry Abbott, Zip-Ty Racing/Husqvarna's Gary Sutherlin, followed by Red Bull/KTM's David Pearson. The battle was a great one between all the racers, with a few Expert riders running out of gas during the first 45-mile loop, possibly by not "topping off" their gas tanks at the start line, which was 3.5 miles from the main camping area.Through the pits in the first 3 positions were Russ Pearson, followed by David Kamo, then Destry Abbott with a rear flat tire. After a quick tire change, Destry was out of the pits and on a mission to make up the 2.5 minutes he was behind. During the second loop, which was 35 miles of very challenging and technical terrain, the lead position changed hands several times. Destry caught and passed both David Kamo and Russ Pearson for the lead position. Destry would then lead almost the entire second loop until the last checkpoint where moments later, he would experience another rear flat tire. Both Russ and David would catch and pass Destry. Soon after, Russ would find himself on the ground after a bad crash. While trying to get himself back on his bike, David would overtake Russ for the lead spot. These two would swap positions two more times, finishing within seconds of each other with Russ Pearson winning the Overall first place position, followed by David Kamo in second place, with third place going to Destry Abbott. Fourth place overall would be Gary Sutherlin, followed by Ty Davis, David Pearson, and Quinn Cody.
Congrats racers!Want to check out some video of the event, go to www.promoto.tv.