Serpa Wins OMC Hare Scrambles
C
arson City Motorsports KTM
rider Austin Serpa claimed
his third-straight win in the AMA
West Hare Scrambles (WHS)
Regional Championship Series,
Presented by MojoMotoSport,
coming from behind for the vic-
tory at round five.
In doing so at the Owyhee
Motorcycle Club's OMC Hare
Scramble, he strengthened his
hold on the series points lead
with 115 points to Pro 250 winner
Shane Logan's 81. (In the overall
AA rankings, Logan leapfrogged
ahead of Open Pros Chase Lar-
son and Blake Best who missed
this round, but in Pro AA points,
Larson and Best remain second
and third, respectively.)
It was by no means an easy
day for Serpa whose good start
aboard his Kenda/Regulas Fit/
Moose Racing-backed 450 XC-F
went down the drain when he
crashed on the opening lap of
the two-and-a-half-hour race. He
found it difficult to get back in his
groove, saying, "I wasn't riding
like myself—I wasn't comfortable.
If I'd creep up on anyone, I'd get
in their dust and I couldn't see so
I wasn't really taking chances."
That was just the opening
defending series champ David
Kamo hoped for and he jumped
into the lead aboard his PCI Race
Radios/Kamo Realty/Fly Racing
450 XC-F for just over an hour
until a suspected electrical grem-
lin struck and ultimately forced
him out of the race shortly after.
At that point, Johnny Campbell
Racing (JCR) Honda's Preston
Campbell took control on his J.L.
Ray/VP Racing Fuels/Fly Racing
CRF450RX, though it was only
for a couple laps before a lapper
fell into him.
"My foot hooked him in the
back, so we had to untangle and
these two guys [with me on the
podium] got around me," Camp-
bell shared. "I was never really
able to get back into it, close in
and battle with them."
Serpa said, "I got lucky. I think
the lap after or two laps after we
pitted, [Clayton] Gerstner and Pres-
ton both went down on the same
lap. I was handed a gift right there."
However, Serpa wasn't able
to break away because he came
IN
THE
WIND
P44
Austin Serpa pulled the holeshot, fell back, caught up
and battled with Clayton Gerstner (757) in the waning
stages of the OMC Hare Scramble, but Serpa was able to
pull off his third win in a row.
PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
