| September 13, 2022
Dalton Shirey stretches out points lead in Nevada.
Dust was a factor at the 2022 Muley Run Hare & Hound.
By Mary Rinell | Photography by mjsmotophotos
Dalton Shirey (3-Bros Hatch Husqvarna) scored a hard-earned win at the Muley Run H&H, round six of the 2022 AMA National Hare & Hound Championship, presented by FMF. The race, co-sanctioned by the Silver State Trailblazers MC and MRAN, was a single-day event staged at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds and spanned nearly 80 miles of harsh desert terrain.
The win increases Shirey’s Pro points lead over current champion, Factory Beta rider Joe Wasson, by 32 points. With only two more rounds left of the eight-round series, the win puts Shirey in a good position to secure his second-ever championship.
Dalton Shirey extended his lead in the series after winning The Muley Run National Hare & Hound in Nevada.
“I saw Joe [Wasson] got fourth—kind of sucks for him—but I’m really happy for myself because it helps me a lot with the points situation,” said Shirey. “So, I’m glad that worked out for me.”
NHHA desert racers are coming off a short summer break, however, Shirey didn’t take any time off, as he spent his time training and racing, which included the Best in the Desert’s (BITD) Vegas-to-Reno.
“I didn’t have much of a summer break because I was really focused on Vegas to Reno,” Shirey said. “It was my first time ‘ironmaning’ it, and so I was on the bike for six hours and 40-something minutes of pure racing; 408-ish miles straight. I was really focused on that and doing a lot of prep going into it, so it kind of made my summer break go by fast. So, coming into this race I had put in the work to get myself best as I can to get the win today.
“Going into Reno [the next round of the NHHA Championship] I will be approaching things mostly the same; maintaining the momentum I have is always the goal. Racers always need to work on themselves and try to find their weaknesses or things to work on, you’re never a perfect rider, so there is always something to improve on.”
Zane Roberts kept the pressure on Shirey the entire race, finishing approximately a minute and a half behind the winner.
Finishing less than two minutes behind Dalton was Factory Beta racer Zane Roberts, who initially had a rough start to his NHHA season but has steadily progressed and improved on his points, moving him up to a solid fourth behind injured FMF KTM racer Taylor Robert (who remains on the injured list and reportedly will not be returning to racing this season.)
With Zane Roberts moving up in points and likely finishing the 2022 season on the podium, he said, “It’s definitely nice to be getting back into the points a little bit but what’s more important for me at this point is to have solid rides, and hopefully collect some wins so that I can roll that confidence into next year when I get a fresh start on the points.”
A slight mishap off the start line would not keep Roberts from charging his Beta 480RR hard through the bomb run, getting him off to a second-place seat which he held onto for the entire 80 miles of rough desert track.
“I messed up my start a bit by blipping the throttle too soon before my bike started, so I had a terrible jump off the line but had a really good line down the bomb run and was able to come out second behind Dalton,” said Roberts. “Immediately, we got into some nasty dust and Dalton was able to get a decent-sized gap on me. From there on out I just had a smooth race and rode by myself the whole day chasing Dalton’s dust. No crashes, no big mistakes, just rode my own race and ended up in second.”
Unlike Roberts, Shirey got off the line with great success but found himself off the bike more than once. One of those times was pretty gnarly.
Otto Pearson rounded out the overall podium with third.
“I was able to get the holeshot today and start walking away; I really wanted that holeshot, because it’s pretty silty out here, and I did not want to deal with the dust,” said Shirey. “I’ve raced the series for several years now and I’ve learned these terrains, and I know you have got to get those critical starts in certain areas because you’re going to put yourself in a high-risk situation if you don’t get a good start. So, this was a great race to get that good start.
“I led for a while, and I was really pushing myself. These sand washes are all brand new, they’re all smooth but they had a hard crust, so it was actually slick. At one point, I was cookin’ and came around a corner and seemingly out of nowhere there was a tree. I hit it and ripped my left arm off, but my right was still on the bars, and I yanked that way and went straight right, and then hit another tree and ended up crashing. I picked myself back up, got going again and then I was able to see the pits, but then somehow, I clipped a rock, and it kicked me a little to the right into another rock, and I swapped out. I picked myself up from that and told myself to calm down.
“After a few deep breaths I took off from there, got some water in the pits and regrouped, and somehow managed to finish my second lap clean.”
Clayton Roberts won the 250cc class.
Rounding the pro podium in third was Otto Pearson who normally races in the Pro 250cc class, but being a Nevada native and previous MRAN Champion (AA), he decided to try his hand with the Pro class this round. At the end of the long hard race day, Pearson was stoked to say the least. “Awesome race today!” he said. “I got off to a great start which had me in third early on. I was able to keep that position to the finish.”
Pro 250cc saw a new face on the top podium step, as Clayton Roberts was able to put it all together for his first NHHA Pro 250cc win of the season. He didn’t get the best start and was behind coming into the pits after loop one but charged hard aboard his GasGas MC250 and let the two-stroke carry him through the desert dust to the class win.
“I did not pull as great of a start as I had wanted to but found myself right in the mix with Corbin [McPherson] and Carter [Klein] early on in the first loop,” Roberts said. “I came into the pits third and felt good on the bike going into the second loop. I made some time up at the beginning of that loop and was able to make the pass into second. We dropped in a fun rocky canyon halfway through that loop and that’s where I was able to make the pass into first! I had pressure from Carter and Corbin the entire race but was able to hold them off and come away with my first Pro 250 win!”
Carter Klein finished only 18 seconds behind Clayton, with Corbin McPherson tight on their heels in a very close third. When the dust had settled, the three racers would finish with just over one minute between them.
Britney Gallegos took a hard-earned win in the Women’s class.
The race saw yet another exciting and extremely tight race (not only for the day, but for the overall points lead) in the Pro Women’s class. Britney Gallegos, Rachel Stout and 3-Bros Kilmartin GasGas racer Ava Silvestri have all been within one race of each other for the points lead during the 2022 NHHA season. Coming off summer break, Stout was leading by a single point (128 to Gallegos’ 127), but the weekend’s relentless sand washes, needle-bushes and silty g-outs took their toll. Stout fell back, finishing third for the day giving the points lead to her close competitor, Gallegos. Silvestri is not far behind the two in series points and finished a close second for the day, never once letting up on Gallegos, who was eager to claim that top podium step herself.
The race came down to the very end with Gallegos coming out on top. “I snuck right in behind Ava through the pits at the end of loop one and coming out of them we were literally in a drag race,” Gallegos said of passing Silvestri for the lead. “She checked up when it came to the section coming off the road, and I made the decisions to just never let off. It was sketchy, but I felt like I sealed the deal there.
“After that I settled into a pace I could sustain and not have too many risks. Then Ava caught me about two miles to the finish, and so I had to do some pretty defensive riding, because that girl is just too wild! So, a bit of adrenaline rush the last few minutes of the race, but I’m happy to have held it all the way to the wire!”
Gallegos crossed the finish line just 14 second ahead of Silvestri, with Rachel Stout less than two minutes behind in third. CN
2022 Muley Run Hare & Hound Results
OVERALL
- Dalton Shirey (Hus)
- Zane Roberts (Bet)
- Otto Pearson (Hus)
- Joe Wasson (Bet)
- Jacob Argubright (Hus)
- Clayton Roberts (GG)
- Carter Klein (KTM)
- Corbin McPherson (Hus)
- Nic Colangeli (KTM)
- Nick Burson (Yam)
