STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY
MARK KARIYA
T
he SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Champion-
ship Series returned from its traditional summer
break and witnessed a number of firsts, not the
least of which was Ricky Brabec winning (for only the
second time in his young career) and taking over the
series points lead for the first time.
In addition, runner-up Skyler Howes and third-place
Axel Pearson earned their first trips to the podium after
excellent rides at the Muley Run, hosted by the Silver
State Trailblazers and based out of the Lincoln County
Fairgrounds.
Utilizing much the same two-loop course as two
years ago, Blais Racing Services KTM's Howes got a
great start to nab the $300 Speed Freaks Bomb Run
Award with THR Motorsports/Monster Energy/Preci-
sion Concepts Kawasaki's Brabec tucking in right be-
hind and earning $100.
"I led for a while," Howes said. "I ripped a sweet
holeshot on my Kenda/Fasst Company/Troy Lee
Designs 300 XC, but Ricky got a couple sweet lines
through the wash after the bomb and got around me.
The dust was pretty thick so I settled in; I tried to make
VOL. 51 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 26, 2014 P97
Briefly...
Though the team receives virtually
no support from the factory and is
essentially a well-run privateer team,
Ricky Brabec prepares like a fac-
tory rider. "Here in the off-season I
put in a lot of time on my mountain
bike and at the gym just doing my
workouts. I came out here prepared
and obviously all of us were a little bit
nervous—it's the first race back in the
second half of the season. Precision
Concepts prepped my bike, rebuilt
it. Thanks to Scott Jacobson at THR
for funding that."
The last time a Kawasaki held the
series points lead is probably the
early part of the 2010 season when
Destry Abbott started that season
with a 3-2-2, eventually finishing
fourth for the year with one victory.
The Silver State Trailblazers held
an auction on Friday evening at their
spaghetti dinner that raised $1010
for the Kurt Caselli Foundation.
Besides a number of one-off Caselli
photo banners, the club netted $250
from Senior B rider Jon Johnson on
a unique wooden clock with a deer
antler and Caselli photo.
Women A winner (for the sixth round
in a row) Maggie Pearson said that
she probably won't contest the se-
ries next year.
Maggie Pearson's uncle (and David
Pearson's father) Keith Pearson
was the hare for the Muley Run.
The Muley Run was round two of
the three-round Silver State Classic.
Ricky Brabec leads that with his 2-1
record. The next round is at Yering-
ton, Nevada, on September 20.
continued on next page
RICKY BRABEC OVERTAKES
POINTS LEAD WITH SECOND
CAREER H&H WIN
BRABEC BAGS
ANOTHER
