Wasson Closes In At On Any
Sunday Hare & Hound
A
fter eating dust for the first
half of the race, Beta's Joe
Wasson decided he'd had enough
and wasn't going to settle for safe
points. When the opportunity
arose, he jumped past teammate
Zane Roberts as well as 3 Bros./
Hatch Racing Husqvarna's Dalton
Shirey, the previous race leader,
propelling him to first place and
a commanding point lead in the
AMA Hare & Hound National
Championship Series, Presented
by FMF.
Round seven of the series vis-
ited the Spangler Hills Off-High-
way Vehicle (OHV) Area, Sep-
tember 25-26, for the Inaugural
Desert Racer Classic, An "On
Any Sunday" (OAS) Tribute Race,
hosted by the National Hare &
Hound Association (NHHA). The
reason? The 50th anniversary
of the award-winning motorcycle
documentary. To celebrate, there
was a screening on Saturday
night to get riders fired up, as
well as having "OAS" star Mal-
colm Smith's son Alexander as
the guest hare for the race.
As he's prone to do, Shirey
jumped to an early lead aboard
his FMF/P-Worx/Troy Lee
Designs FX 450 and appeared
to be on his way to repeating his
round-six triumph.
After the 40-mile first loop, he
enjoyed a 21-second lead over
Roberts who was a scant six
seconds ahead of Wasson.
Despite playing it relatively safe
at the previous round where he
settled for a safe third behind
Shirey and Johnny Campbell
Racing (JCR) Honda's Preston
Campbell, Wasson decided he
wasn't going to settle today: "I
don't like to think like that—I like
to try to do my best no matter
what. In the back of my mind,
it was kind of there [to] salvage
points, but I don't like to get beat
either way."
Wasson's job got easier when
Shirey had to abandon the race
a few miles into loop two with a
reported broken hand.
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Joe Wasson's (45) win at the "On
Any Sunday" Tribute Race moved
him into a commanding points lead
with just two rounds remaining.
PHOTOS: ILIA PANOV
