INTERVIEW
2014 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ATV/MC WORLD OFF ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES CHAMPION
P212
ed the offer. His first order of busi-
ness was to defend his number
one plate in the AMA West Coast
Hare Scrambles Championship,
which didn't quite go to plan.
"I ended up having a little bike
issue at the West Hare Scramble,"
Sutherlin said. "Then came back
and thought, 'Okay, I'll go race the WORCS race.'
I ended up winning the opening round of the
WORCS race on a bone-stock KTM 450."
Sutherlin followed his WORCS win with a com-
mendable effort at the opening round of the AMA
National Hare and Hound series, which caught the
eye of Tom Moen and Dave O'Conner of KTM's
media relations department. Moen saw Sutherlin's
potential, and was supportive of his–and the mag-
azine's–goal to put the KTM 450 SX-F to the test
as a professional-level off-road race bike.
"We thought it was the perfect opportunity to
put the KTM 450 through a grueling test of racing
WORCS for a full season," said Sutherlin. "So we
sat down with Tom on the media side, because it
was his bike and his budget. They were
nice enough to help me out with another
media bike just to use as a practice bike.
They're really not a team–they just let me
borrow bikes in return for a story. Basi-
cally, Dirt Rider and Tom Moen were the
major reasons for my success this year."
FOLLOWING THE WINS…
However unconventional, Sutherlin had his ride for
2014. Although he hadn't initially planned to contest
the WORCS Championship, the 27-year-old found
himself going where the wins were, and they all kept
coming from the same series.
"I really had no intentions of racing the WORCS
races this year," Sutherlin said. "I was going to do
a few and try and make some money–kind of see
where the year went–and I ended up rattling off
four wins in a row at the beginning of the season. I
thought, 'four wins–I might as well stick with it!'"
There were plenty of racers who did have a race
program in place, and who had intended to contest
the WORCS Championship, but it was Sutherlin
The WORCS Championship was
Sutherlin's first – as a racer. He
shared in earning a WORCS title as
Ricky Dietrich's mechanic in 2008.
"YOU DON'T WIN
CHAMPIONSHIPS IN
A YEAR. IT TAKES
YEARS OF TRYING
AND LEARNING AND
GROWING."
