Mark Kariya | February 20, 2017
2017 AMA Picacho Creek Challenge WHS Results – Cody Webb is rapidly proving to be much more than just a trials-rider-turned-extreme-enduro-racer.
2017 AMA Picacho Creek Challenge WHS Results
Second overall at the opening round of the AMA ISDE West Qualifier Series last month, the FMF KTM Factory Off-road Racing Team star dominated the field at the Picacho Creek Challenge, hosted by the Salinas Ramblers Motorcycle Club, round two of the Kenda/SRT AMA West Hare Scrambles Regional Championship Series. (It also served as round three of the AMA District 36 SRT Championship Cross-country Series, presented by Works Connection, and round three of the AMA District 36 Motion Pro Championship Youth Cross-country Series, presented by Racer Decal.)
Jason Hurst and Purvines DA8 Racing Yamaha’s Axel Pearson rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively.
“I did this race in 2010 and 2011, and both of those were mudders and I haven’t done it since—I just had other stuff going on,” Webb recalled. “I’m not doing Super Enduros this year so I’m trying to do as many [other] things as I can and this is right down the road so I prepped my [Red Bull/Motorex/Troy Lee Designs-backed 300 XC-W] practice bike yesterday and drove down and gave it a roll. [I] got a great start and got by Max [Gerston] maybe a third of the way into the first lap and then pushed real hard and got a gap on everyone.
“The lappers were really tough. There’s a lot of single-track out here. It’s got really bad ruts out there and it was just kind of hard to get around the people. The manzanita and bushes are pretty thick!”
In the early going, round-one winner Joey Fiasconaro stuck close to Webb, but as the race wore on, Fiasconaro dropped back, one big crash in particular leaving him with a bent sub-frame and the pipe pulled off the exhaust flange on his new IRC Tires/Six Five 0 Racing/Racer Decal Gas Gas EC 300.
2017 AMA Picacho Creek Challenge WHS Results
“I was right behind Cody and after two laps, Cody just started slowly pulling away,” Fiasconaro explained. “He was riding really smooth, especially through the rocks.”
Hurst and his Mom and Dad/Tasker Racing/Jackson Casino-sponsored YZ250X worked his way into second. He said, “Actually, I’m a really good mud rider. I love this stuff!”
About halfway through the three-hour race, John Burr Cycles/FMF/THOR YZ250FX-mounted Pearson caught up to Hurst, though he couldn’t complete a pass.
“He never actually passed me, but he was on me and showed me a wheel one time. He was just putting the pressure on me the whole time but never got me,” Hurst said.
After getting a decent start, Pearson found himself sliding off a wet, muddy bridge early in the race, putting him far back in the pack. After that, he reported, “I just decided to stay smooth and try to take good lines and somehow get by guys. I kept passing more and more guys, then finally I caught [Hurst].”
Fiasconaro got going after his unplanned pit stop for quick repairs and finished fourth followed by Beta’s Gerston and Pearson’s teammate, reigning series champ Nick Burson.
SRT Husqvarna rider J.T. Baker won the FMF Pro 250 class for the second straight round followed by 707 Racing Suspension Yamaha’s Dillon Sheppard.
2017 AMA Picacho Creek Challenge WHS Results
2017 AMA Picacho Creek Challenge WHS Results
AMA West Hare Scrambles Series
Picacho Creek Challenge
Coalinga, California
Results: February 19, 2017
- Cody Webb (KTM)
- 2. Jason Hurst (Yam)
- Axel Pearson (Yam)
- Joey Fiasconaro (KTM)
- Steve Godman (KTM)
Click here for complete results.