The very first King of the Motos ran its course Thursday, February 9, at Means Dry Lake in the Johnson Valley OHV Area near Lucerne Valley, California, and it was a very difficult course for the 21 riders who were invited to compete for the $10,000 winner-take-all purse. Husaberg’s Graham Jarvis made the long journey from the U.K. well worth the effort, as the extreme off-road star came away with the overall win.
Despite being not used to the desert terrain, Great Britain’s Graham Jarvis topped the King of Motos extreme off-road race in Lucerne.
The King of Motos was held in conjunction with the 6th running of the popular King of Hammers event, a near week-long, four-wheel off-road competition, which concludes on Friday, February 10. Motorcycle off-roaders were invited to join in on the fun for the first time for a three-plus-hour extreme off-road event.
The King of the Motos combined both high-speed sections across the desert floor and a number of extremely technical sections, one which was estimated to take the riders up to 40 minutes to complete an 1/8th-mile section. Some of the sections included rugged, rocky downhills and hillclimbs, and sand dunes.
Kyle Redmond gave Jarvis a race, finishing second.
The race boiled down to a two-rider shootout between Husaberg two-stroke riders Jarvis and Kyle Redmond. Jarvis put his World Championship trials skill to good use and edged away from Redmond in the late stages of the race, taking the checkered flag approximately 15 minutes ahead of Redmond.
Third place went to multi-time hare and hound champion, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Destry Abbott, who said the race was the most difficult he’s ever ridden.
Chris Ridgeway struggles up a rocky uphill right after the start.
Many riders didn’t finish the race, which was the goal of the organizers. Some of those included early leader Kurt Caselli, and Cody Webb, Cory Graffunder, and Nick Burson. Most of the DNFs were mechanical-related, with most suffering motorcycle damage from the jagged rocks.