IN
THE
WIND
P24
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
PEARSON WINS MULEY RUN
NATIONAL HARE & HOUND
A
fter six years of hard work,
injuries and near misses, Axel
Pearson (Purvines Racing Yama-
ha) topped the field at a national
and did it in the best way possible
by winning in front of family and
friends at the 7th Annual Muley
Run, hosted by the Silver State
Trail Blazers, August 26. It was a
welcome return to racing for the
local star after sitting out practi-
cally all year with injury.
Series points leader Kendall
Norman finished second, while
Pearson's Purvines Racing team-
mate, Nick Burson, claimed a
close third—both Purvines riders
displaying N91X side numbers in
tribute to Cody Kurtz.
After running fourth overall
through the first loop, Beta's
Chance Fullerton settled for sev-
enth overall and the FMF Pro 250
victory to wrap up the class cham-
pionship with one round to go.
Round six in the seven-race
Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound
National Championship Series,
Presented by FMF, proved to be
extremely dusty despite nearly two
weeks of rain that left most of the
washes smooth but deep.
Therefore, it was imperative to
get a great start and that's just
what Pearson did, edging out Nor-
man by the end of the sage-brush-
covered bomb run.
"With how dusty things were,
I knew getting the start was so
important so I definitely hung it
out the first mile or so," Precision
Concepts/GPR Stabilizer/O'Neal
Racing YZ450FX-mounted Pear-
son said. "Once I got out front, in
my head I knew that if I just rode
my pace, it's going to be hard for
anyone to pass me. I felt like I rode
a decent pace—I was actually sur-
prised how big a gap I had. I tried
to go fast in the sections where it
wasn't too dusty and cruised in the
Axel Pearson nailed
the start and sailed to
his first-ever National
Hare and Hound
triumph.
