VOL. 56 ISSUE 10 MARCH 12, 2019 P33
After getting the holeshot in the
unusual (for a BITD race) "land-
rush" start, Brabec tried to break
away in the first team outing for
the new Monster Energy/Pro Cir-
cuit/Maxxis-backed CRF450X,
but Argubright stuck right with
him on his Kawasaki of Simi
Valley/Golden Tyre/Fly Racing-
sponsored KX450 with Morgan
quickly slotting the Monster En-
ergy/STI Tires/Maxima CRF450X
into third.
It didn't take long for those
the last national hare and hound],
I said I was going to slow the
pace down—'I'm going to get in
front and slow it down'—and I did
that a couple times [today]. I re-
ally took it easy and I tried to save
it for the last lap because I knew
it would be a sprint—and it was! I
just came up a little short."
Indeed, the last lap saw Bra-
bec make one last push after
Norman handled the second lap.
"Jake kept us on our toes,"
Brabec said. "Jake rode really
take the bumps, let the back start
burning and hold on."
Brabec motored on that final lap
and crossed the finish line after
four hours, 53 minutes and 24
seconds with Argubright stopping
the clock at 4:54:32—probably the
largest gap between them all day.
Afterwards, Brabec said,
"When I was riding back in 2010,
2009, I thought how cool Kendall
was. I would always want to be
on JCR Honda, and for us to be
teamed up in this legendary Mint
being especially exciting between
Off-Road Support/TBT Racing
Kawasaki's Jacob Argubright
(who wanted to go it alone), the
Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR)
Honda duo of Ricky Brabec and
Kendall Norman, and Slam Life
Racing (SLR) Honda's Justin Mor-
gan and Mark Samuels.
three to move away from the rest
of the 160-strong motorcycle
field, Argubright shocking many
by being able to poke his way into
the lead on a few occasions.
"On the first lap, I could kind
of tell the pace," the Kawasaki-
mounted privateer said. "They
were laughing at me. In Texas [at
awesome, but I knew from what
Kendall had told me when he got
off the bike at the end of the sec-
ond [lap], he said, 'Hey, it's getting
rough out there—be smart!'
"For me, being a bigger guy—
Jake's also pretty tall and thick like
myself—but I was fresh so I knew I
just had to hammer down and just
