2020 AMA HARE & HOUND CHAMPION DALTON SHIREY
P106
Interview
lowed the train around the tracks to finish
sixth for the day."
Not taking anything away from the desert,
but Shirey says, "I believe the level of talent
in the talent pool is starting to rise in the GPs
and WORCS. The talent's starting to come to
WORCS and GPs now instead of strictly going to
motocross, so we're starting to see more moto
guys coming over here now. It's really cool; it
brings more competition, and if more competi-
tion's there, it means better racing, more racing,
more money—everything's better, I think, because
there's more people, more sponsors coming,
vendors and spectators."
As far as preferring any one form of racing,
Shirey says, "No. I'm just happy to be on my bike.
"There was a point where I didn't like certain
racing, but then I sat there and said, 'Grow up
and look.' I opened my mind a little bit and looked
at it and was like, 'Hey, you're on a dirt bike. It
doesn't matter where you go—it's in the dirt and
you're on a bike so no matter what, your competi-
tion's doing the same thing.'
"After I got that mindset, I enjoyed all of it. It
doesn't matter what it is—I love it!"
When asked to critique his strong and weak
points, he says, "I really love sand washes!
I love tight, flowy sand washes—I feel that's
a real strong point. The Sage Riders [Motor-
cycle Club's round in Utah] and the Silver State
Trailblazers race in Panaca, Nevada, how those
types of races are, I feel like I love that more
versus the hare and hounds in California down
Bessemer Mine Road [a well-known desert-
riding area outside of Lucerne Valley]. Hare and
hounds here in California are just getting so beat
up because we have such limited area to run
around on. Now, I'm really starting to remem-
ber a lot of trails in SoCal. A lot of races I'll be
coming along and I'll be like, 'Oh, I remember
coming through here before in a race!' 'Oh, I
remember coming through here!' They're start-
ing to lose their creativity because they're limited
where they can lay out courses."
After sitting out for the better part of a year
following knee surgery, Shirey came back
in 2018 to earn fourth in final points, with a
breakthrough career-first overall win at the
final race of the season.
I'm just happy to be
on my bike.
