VOL. 54 ISSUE 23 JUNE 13, 2017 P33
Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-road
Team's Jacob Argubright, Sutherlin and Tuffy
Pearson fought it out through the first two turns
with Pearson managing to squirt ahead as they
held it wide open along a fence line. Predict-
ably, those following the Pearson Brothers
Construction/Dynamic Dirt Suspension KTM
450 XC-F swung to both sides of the dust
cloud, putting them into the tallest grass which
hid several obstacles that ended up catching
several by surprise like Morgan Crawford and
Nic Garvin, with Crawford's wrists and bike forc-
ing him to DNF.
A pond caught others, including Argubright,
Purvines DA8 Racing's Nick Burson and
Chidester Transport Racing's Tyler Lynn. All
suffered terminal engine failures after their bikes
drowned.
Eventually, the lead pack became brothers
Tuffy and Axel Pearson, Robert and Sutherlin
with the Pearsons up front through the first lap.
"I held it on as much as I wanted to, safely,"
Sutherlin said. "Axel and Tuffy, it was nuts. I've
never seen anybody go that fast through stuff
[where you couldn't see]. They were pinned!'
"I said, 'I'm not going to do anything stupid
right now.' Me and Taylor kind of stayed togeth-
er and then going out on the second loop in
fourth [behind Axel, Tuffy and Robert]."
But the Pearsons' gambling didn't pay off with
both crashing out of the lead. That put Robert
and Sutherlin out front and they grew their lead
over the Pearsons who, in turn, owned a sizable
gap over the rest of the field.
"After both of those guys wrecked right in
front of me, I was basically just like, 'I'm going to
just trail ride, and honestly, it's so dusty out here
that, hopefully, I can ride whatever pace I want
and the guys behind me won't be able to pass
me because it's so dusty,'" Robert said.
Sutherlin felt the same way, though as the
series points leader, he had more to lose: "I got
Taylor Robert is
probably out of
the championship
hunt after missing
two rounds, but
his second win in
a row vaulted him
into fourth in points,
unofficially.
