| May 31, 2022
Defending NHHA Champion, Beta Factory Racing Team rider Joe Wasson captured his first victory of the ’22 season and narrowed the points gap to 20 on leader Dalton Shirey at round five of the AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series, Presented by FMF, in Red Mountain, California, May 28.
Joe Wasson captured his first National Hare & Hound victory of the season.
Story and Photos by Mary Rinell
Wasson, aboard his Beta 480RR Race Edition and currently second in the championship, and Factory Beta teammate Zane Roberts went 1-3 with 3-Bros. Hatch Husqvarna Racing’s Shirey splitting the two in second.
The conditions being less-than-desirable led to some extremely challenging racing. If the hot and full-sun sky were not demanding enough, Mother Nature decided to include 60 mph winds both days, leaving the racers with more than just a little bit of sand in their eyes. Nevertheless, the course was well marked, the people came and racing ensued, resulting in exciting battles, a couple championship points position changes, and nothing but smiles heading in to the series summer break.
By the end of the weekend most racers talked about how they enjoyed the variable terrain from the relatively long loop one, and most kept a love-hate relationship with the technical rocky sections from loop two.
Race Director Jacob Michna designed this year’s course with the goal of bringing more technical and virgin sections to the race. After listening to Pro-class winner Wasson’s podium speech, he accomplished exactly that. “It was probably 65 percent virgin trails, really rocky,” he said. “You really had to be on your toes the whole time!”
Dalton Shirey, dangling footpeg and all, was runner-up.
As far as his race, “Not the best start off the bomb,” he said, “but I was able to make a couple quick passes that put me up into fifth, and then I passed Zane and followed Preston all the way to the pits. I had a super quick pit and I was able to sneak past Preston when he was getting gas.
“I was running second and could start to see more and more dust, so I knew I was getting closer to Dalton [Shirey] and that the course was going to get more technical, and that’s my strong suit. So, I just kept pushing harder and harder riding smooth, and then Dalton ended up having a little mishap where he broke his footpeg off, so I was able to sneak by him and then basically just put on a charge to the finish line. I rode a super smooth race, couldn’t really be happier with everything! The team did a solid job!”
Runner-up Shirey, said, “Halfway through the second loop there was this rocky uphill, and I was kind of just bouncing around trying to make my way up to the top, and I got bounced toward this rock and it just clobbered my footpeg. At first it was bent back for a moment, so I still had a peg but then about another mile I hit a whoop and my footpeg busted all the way off. I tried to put my foot on the frame, but it just kept slipping off.
“I kept thinking to myself out there, ‘it’s all about the championship at this point.’ There were these rocky technical sections where I really wished I had a footpeg, but I just carried my momentum and tried to just bounce my way up!”
For the Pro Women’s class, current champion Rachel Stout took the win, maintaining her points lead over Britney Gallegos and 3Bros/Kilmartin racer Ava Silvestri. Stout now sits a single point ahead of Gallegos, with Silvestri a mere 10 points behind them.
Rachel Stout won the Women’s Pro class.
Stout finished a solid 12 minutes ahead of Gallegos. “Probably one of the smoothest California races that I’ve accomplished,” Stout said. “I feel like I was able to make less mistakes on the second loop, which really helped. And being able to keep my mindset smooth and realize that when I make a mistake, just to stay calm and cool and collected and try and salvage what I can of the hill and just get up to the top.”
Silvestri rode nearly the entire loop two with her transmission stuck in second gear. “This is probably worst-case scenario I could have had today, but you got to try to be positive when it is like that and just get through it, because you’re only going to keep making it worse if you’re being negative,” Silvestri said.
Carter Klein was the top Pro 250 rider for the third time this season.
In the close-running Pro 250 class Carter Klein took his third win of the season, widening his points gap on reigning champion Corbin McPherson.
OVERALL
- Joe Wasson (Bet)
- Dalton Shirey (Hus)
- Zane Roberts (Bet)
- Carter Klein (KTM)
- Clayton Roberts (GG)
- Otto Pearson (Hus)
- Corbin McPherson
- Nic Colangeli (KTM)
- Nick Burson (Yam)
- Brody Honea (Kaw)
