SERIES
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY
MARK KARIYA
T
HR Motorsports/Precision
Concepts/Bonanza Plumb-
ing-backed Ricky Brabec
overcame a poor start to win the
65th Annual Check Chase World
Championship National Hare &
Hound hosted by the Checker's
Motorcycle Club, round two of
the Kenda/SRT AMA Hare &
Hound National Championship
Series. In doing so, the defend-
ing series champion moved
into the series points lead after
finishing second at the opener
last month.
FMF KTM Factory Off-Road
Racing Team's Ivan Ramirez led
early but had to settle for sec-
ond after missing the course a
couple times and crashing once
while Purvines Racing Beta's
Axel Pearson came back for
third after looping his new bike
off the start.
While the Check Chase has
been around for a long time,
it hasn't been a staple on the
National circuit, only on the local
AMA District 37 schedule. None-
theless, it's got a long history of
being one of the toughest hare
and hounds, and this one was
no different, even if it was held in
VOL. 52 ISSUE 9 MARCH 3, 2015 P109
Briefly...
Round-one winner Gary Sutherlin
didn't have the best of starts but
quickly worked his way towards the
front. Unfortunately, he hit a ditch
wrong and suffered a possible bro-
ken wrist. It's unknown how long he'll
be out.
Instead of running the bomb over
and over, Ivan Ramirez says he's
trying a different approach and it
worked well at the Check Chase.
"I just show up to the bomb and re-
lax. Before, I was a little too into it, I
think—maybe put a little bit too much
pressure on the beginning. Now, I
just go and ride and get a good start,
try not to think about it too much, but
at the same time think about it."
Yamaha sent a trailer full of 2015
models out on Saturday for free dem-
onstration rides. Over 100 interested
riders signed up to try various dirt
models from the little TT-R110 to the
YZ450F, including the new-for-2015
YZ250FX.
Brandon Prieto recently signed with
KTM Mexico to contest the National
Enduro Championship of Mexico.
"One of their riders (Homero Diaz)
got hurt and couldn't ride so they
needed a rider. I'm going to race
the national enduros over there with
KTM Mexico," he said. "I'm pretty ex-
cited; I love to race enduros—they're
pretty fun." Being European-format
enduros, they're quite a bit different
than the Tecate Enduros he's ridden
before: "It's a pretty different format;
it's pretty new for me, but I'm learn-
ing quick. Homero is helping me
over there so it's pretty good." The
series is 18 rounds, each being on a
double-header weekend and they're
primarily in mainland Mexico. "I need
continued on next page
PRIVATEER
POWER!
RICKY BRABEC COMES FROM BEHIND TO
WIN THE CHECK CHASE NATIONAL
