Most of the day I was just riding
my own pace and having fun out
there so I really can't complain."
And neither can the new
champ—or, rather, the two-time
champ since Gerston first won in
2017 (coincidentally at this race).
Fourth initially behind Wasson,
Roberts and Gray Area KTM's De-
van Bolin who was returning from
injury, Gerston shared, "I treated
[this] as, 'Let's just get through it
and get it done.' I didn't want to do
anything spectacular, I didn't want
to get greedy, I just wanted to go
out there and finish the race.
"I knew that with the condi-
tions, it might be tricky to do that
so I took extra pits, I went through
extra air filters, actually swapping
filters out midrace, I did the extra
things that ensured I got through
the race. I wasn't hard on the
throttle because I didn't want to
suck dirt through the air filter so I
just really tried to play it smart and
just kept moving forward and I
ended up third anyway."
Interestingly, though sponsored
by Beta, the series wasn't in his
contract this year so Gerston did
it largely on his own, except for
the final round. However, he has
no plans to defend the title next
year, saying, "I'm not going to be
racing [this] next year—I'm going
to be focusing on extreme enduro
and EnduroCross. In order to get
better at one thing, I need to give
up another.
"I'm glad I did them, though!
It's crazy to look back and say
that I got two West Hare Scram-
bles titles."
Lack of race fitness, Bolin exited
early, leaving fourth to Yamaha-
mounted Justin Bonita. Unoffi-
cially, Mike Aranda bounced back
from a crash to claim fifth overall
on his Lehr Real Estate KTM fol-
lowed by Joel Tonsgard on his new
Cycle Barn Racing KX450, YZ125
rider Jaden Dahners, TBT Racing
Yamaha's Ryan Turner, Lochlan
Campbell on a KTM and Racer
Decal KTM's Michael Oliveira.
Pro 250 winner Dillon Sheppard
on his 707 Suspension YZ250FX
finished 11th overall, 22 seconds
ahead of runner-up Kyle Kerling
who led early on his new Kawasaki
of Modesto KX250.
Mark Kariya
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Second overall
was enough to
wrap up the Big
Wheel (12-16)
championship
for Seth
Sadorra.
