Mark Kariya | June 27, 2016
After losing round three of the Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series to a large error when he lost the course, Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda’s Ricky Brabec vowed to minimize mistakes at round four, the Gas It Off-road Racing Series’ Rattlesnake 100, Presented by Team R&S Racing, at the Fun Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area just outside of town of Espanola, New Mexico, June 26.
After battling with holeshot winner Jacob Argubright in the early part of the race, Brabec seized control and rode away from the field for his second triumph of the season, extending his series points lead to 33 over the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-road Team ace, 110-77. Crashing and wrenching his knee slowed Argubright to an eventual third for the day, with Purvines Racing Beta’s Nick Burson happily powering by for second place, his first finish after two consecutive DNFs.
Off the start, Brabec tucked in behind Argubright and Burson as they headed out for the first of four laps around the 25-mile loop, one of several big differences between this and “normal” hare and hound races where the same ground is rarely covered twice due to using longer loops. But since this event came as a last-minute replacement for the race originally scheduled for June 11 in Utah that got cancelled, some concessions had to be made in order to abide by local BLM regulations.
Despite being able to pre-run the loop on Saturday (another big change from the norm), Brabec insisted that the pace was milder than expected on the first time around.
“It was basically a trail ride,” he said. “Jake was blowing a lot of corners on the first lap—leading a National’s not easy so he made a few mistakes. Me and him were going back and forth; it was cool.”
But Brabec squeaked by to lead officially at the end of the first lap, though having to pit forced him to hand the lead back to Argubright, who was able to eke out 50 miles per tank on his FC 450.
Brabec got the lead for good on the third lap, though he thought Argubright was still within striking distance so he kept charging, eventually completing the race with nine minutes, 30 seconds in hand over Burson.
“I rode my ass off because I thought he was right there behind me. I guess he made a mistake and went down,” Brabec said.
Argubright did indeed go down later; the Husky racer said. “It was tough. Like Ricky said, we were really, really pushing trying to go fast.
“It was the easiest tough race because there was nothing [technically] tough on it, but it was so tough! It was physically taxing, for sure.”
After hurting his knee, Argubright couldn’t maintain pace, so when Burson came up on the final lap, he simply let the Beta by. Burson had issues in the beginning but felt better as the race wore on.
“I was right behind [Argubright off the start], then I crashed on the first lap,” Burson explained. “I struggled to ride the rest of the first lap. I actually got passed [by local star Travis Porter] and went back to fourth. I stopped and got gas and got some new goggles and just kind of regrouped and started riding better.”
Ryan Smith finished a close fourth, six seconds behind Argubright to equal his career and season best finishes aboard his LG Electric/Rick’s Custom Shutters & Blinds/MSR YZ450FX.
Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts rider Justin Morgan was still feeling the effects of his heat-induced DNF at Last Dog Standing and settled for fifth followed by Joe Wasson, the FMF Pro 250 winner at the Rattlesnake 100 and for the third round in a row.
Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series
Rattlesnake 100 Hare & Hound
Fun Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area
Espanola, New Mexico,
RESULTS: June 26.
OVERALL
- Ricky Brabec (Hon)
- Nick Burson (Beta)
- Jacob Argubright (Hus)
- Ryan Smith (Yam)
- Justin Morgan (Yam)
- Joseph Wasson (Yam)
- Travis Porter (KTM)
- Grant Statley (Yam)
- Nick Stover (KTM)
- Tyler Lynn (Yam)
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