BRABEC
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY
BY MARK KARIYA
B
y any measure, Ricky Brabec
enjoyed head-spinning suc-
cess in 2014. At the begin-
ning of the year, he was practically
unknown outside of his hometown of
Hesperia, California. By the end of the
year, the THR Motorsports/Monster
Energy/Precision Concepts/Bonan-
za Plumbing-backed privateer con-
quered not one, not two, but three dif-
ferent series: SRT AMA Hare & Hound
National Championship Series, Best
in the Desert American Off-Road Rac-
ing Series and SCORE World Desert
Championship. It's safe to say that
he's becoming the most celebrated
desert racer in the U.S.
However, being the country's top
desert racer is no guarantee of fi-
nancial comfort, and he finds himself
facing a 2015 with even less support:
no free bikes, no parts allowance, no
travel budget. In that respect, he'll be
in the same boat as most of his fellow
competitors, though none of them ac-
complished what he did this year.
It'll be twice as difficult defending his
three championships as it was earning
them in the first place, especially in the
Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound Na-
tional Championship Series, where he
faces factory-backed competition from
proven winners like Bel-Ray/FMF/
Moose Racing Husqvarna's Jacob Ar-
gubright, and FMF KTM's Ivan Ramirez,
as well as the powerful Purvines Rac-
ing Beta duo of Nick Burson and Axel
Pearson. Add several others like Blais
Racing Services KTM's Skyler Howes,
young privateer Ryan Smith, who plans
DESERT RACING'S
TRIPLE CHAMP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P219
