A M A F MF R a ci n g National Championsh ip Hare & Hound S e r ie s
Round 6 : W ild Rockies
Russ Pearson wraps up
title with convincing win
Russ Pearson won h is first
AMA National Championship
title with a victory at the
final hare and hound round
of the year.
their way through the du st , trying find
D O UG K A RCHER
c
ue
tains. A t one po int , he noticed Brow n
a nd K end all Norman coming u p
least ," Pear son said . " Everyone ki nd
then it was just hai rb all , hairb all all
th ro u gh th e brus h . As th ey m o ved
of f anned out. I wen t a littl e to the left
I
NOVEMBER 5 . 2003'
the c ourse wound towar d the moun -
sud den, people were going by me. I
got dusted out, so I m oved over, and
" T h e start was ha iry t o say the
WINNEMUCCA, NV, OCT. 19
n a po ints rac e th at went rig ht to the
en d , Ru ssel l Pea r son claime d h is
fi rst AMA National title after holding
off two former ch ampions to take th e
ove r a ll win and th e 2003 AM A
Nation al Hare £, Hound Ch am pion ship
at th e fi na l round in Ne vada . D estry
Abbott an d B ri an Bro wn . who were
both in titl e contention go ing into the
finale, eac h m ade a good run at Pearson. A first -place finish by either o ne
o f th e Kawasak i r id ers , c o m bi ned
with a th ird or wor se finis h by Pear son , wou ld h a v e giv en ei t he r t he
nu mber -o ne pl ate , but in the en d ,
Pearson hung t o ug h and made h is
dream co me tru e on his M ontcla ir
Yamaha /Pro C i r c u i t / M o o se /S c o tt
Goggles/ Acerbis Yamaha YZ4 50F.
The Ron Dill on and Wild Rockieshosted race st art ed on th e edge of a
dry lak ebed with a short "bomb run ."
In les s th an 100 ya rds . the racers
were supposed to funn el into a narrow road crossing and the beg inning
of th e c ou rse. At th e fr on t, Pearson ,
Brown and Abbott we re practi call y
hand l ebar to h andl eb ar as t hey
crossed the road and picked up the
course ribbons. Beh ind them the rest
o f t he fie ld sp read out and clawed
16
thought I was leadi ng it. Then , all of a
cle ar air.
S T O RY AND P HOT O S BY
the wa y."
across , he took to the ro ugh aga in to
and pu lled up a lo ngs id e Bri an , and
Pearson m oved in and out of the
avoid being dusted out and the n back
then I ac tu all y go t in fr ont of him . so I
sage brus h try ing to hold th e lead as
o nto th e road , ag a in in the lead. A
Destry Abbott 11) and Brian
Brown 15) duel at the start of
the race. Abbott went on to
finish second and Brown third.
I
e
nevvs
