VOLUME 58 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 9, 2021 P37
Adventures Honda's Nic Garvin
who apparently led for much of
the quicker 32-mile first loop
on his AHM Factory Services/
STI Tires/Fast House-backed
CRF450L.
Before the end of the loop,
though, Kenda/FMF/Fly Racing
480 RR-mounted Wasson took
over and kept it the rest of the
way despite still being less than
100-percent after off-season
shoulder surgery. The runner-
up at round one, Wasson said,
"Honestly, I told myself I was
going to win. I have a lot of confi-
dence riding this [tighter] stuff—it
reminds of my backyard [riding
areas in Arizona].
"Coming off round one, every-
thing felt good, so I was really
happy with how my shoulder
felt. I knew what I needed to do
[today] and I was able to put it
together and make it happen."
Wasson took the checkered
flag after two hours, 26 minutes
and 44 seconds with his main
challenger on the much tighter
43-mile second loop being Rob-
erts on a similar Motul/FMF/
Klim 480 RR. A sub-par start left
Roberts playing catchup and
wondering who it was on that
unfamiliar KTM ahead of him.
"I've got to apologize to Rus-
sell a little bit," Roberts said. "I
didn't know who he was, and
I may have been revving and
screaming a little thinking he
was some random local. He was
putting it to me in the slow stuff!
We had an awesome battle there
at the end—pretty crazy battle. It
was a lot of fun."
Roberts ended up just 15 sec-
onds behind Wasson with Bob-
bitt another 20 seconds back.
Hare & hound desert races
obviously have a reputation
for being fast and when asked
about it, Bobbitt replied, "Any
faster and I need to just stay in
the truck! I'm used to squeez-
ing in 28-, 30-inch-wide [trails
between] trees, but it's really fun
hanging it out, shooting lines
and blowing cactus up. I thought
it was an awesome time."
Kirkpatrick rolled in fourth
Russell Bobbitt lined up for his first-
ever hare and hound and his first
time racing a 450. The five-time
AMA National Enduro Champ took
third in his desert debut.
