IN
THE
WIND
P56
Devlin Captures SRT AMA East HS Title
B
eta USA's Thorn Devlin put
the skids to Kyle McDonal's
run as champion by wrapping
up the 2020 SRT AMA East
Hare Scrambles Championship
at the eighth and final round of
the series—The Hard Knox AMA
National—in Greenville, Massa-
chusetts, October 18.
The scenario was fairly simple
going into the race: McDonal
needed to win to have any
chance of retaining the number-
one plate for a third time, while
Devlin pretty much needed just
to finish to steal it away from
McDonal. Both riders, however,
said before the race that they
were going to race to win.
But Ben Kelley had something
to say about that. The KTM rider,
Kelley, shot to the front of the pack
early in the feature race and never
looked back, taking the win. He
had more than a 12-minute cush-
ion on the next-best rider.
Beta-mounted riders McDonal
and Devlin, long-time rivals,
were running second and third,
respectively, but neither would
see the finish line on this day. On
the sixth and second-to-last lap,
Devlin had an encounter with
a tree, re-injuring his shoulder
and collarbone and forcing him
to withdraw. Shortly thereafter,
McDonal pulled out with a me-
chanical while running second.
Despite the DNF, Devlin still
managed to claim the 2020 EHS
(Grand Champion) title.
With McDonal and Devlin
suddenly sidelined, the door
was left wide open for second
place. KTM rider Jonathan Mc-
Dougal, who had earlier taken
the race holeshot, settled into
the position and held it to the
finish, while seven-time AMA
National Enduro Champion
Mike Lafferty quietly worked his
way through the pack from the
A Open-class line to take third
overall, a little over a minute
behind McDougal!
Sherco rider Gavin Simon and
KTM pilot Matt Roberge rounded
out the top five overall.
In the Women's division,
Beta's Rachel Gutish was the
overall winner and class cham-
pion for the year.
Kenny Held
OVERALL
1. Ben Kelley (KTM) AA
2. Jonathan McDougal (KTM) AA
3. Mike Lafferty (KTM) A-Open
4. Gavin Simon (She) AA
5. Matt Roberge (KTM) AA
6. Brayden Nolette (KTM) A-200
7. Mike Bloom (KTM) AA
8. Graham Medas (Hus) AA
9. Payton Preve (KTM) AA
10. Cole Bain (KTM) AA
Thorn Devlin (center) and Rachel
Gutish (right) celebrate their class
championships. Kyle McDonal
(left) made it a Beta 1-2 in the AA
championship. PHOTO: MELISSA STANWOOD
