IN
THE
WIND
P36
NATIONAL HARE AND HOUND:
SHOWDOWN IN THE SAND AND SAGE
S
ix days and about 600
miles separated rounds
four and five of the Kenda/SRT
AMA Hare & Hound National
Championship Series. That
wasn't much time to get bikes or
bodies prepped, but when the
checkered flag fell at the end of
the Sage Riders National hosted
by the Sage Riders Motorcycle
Club at the Little Sahara Rec-
reation Area, defending series
champ Ricky Brabec led the
way—even if he didn't realize it
for a few minutes.
Brabec's victory also broke
him out of the tie for the lead in
series points with Ivan Ramirez,
the second half of the eight-
round series now showing
THR Motorsports/Precision
Concepts/Bonanza Plumbing-
backed Brabec in sole posses-
sion of first with 131 points while
FMF KTM Factory Off-road Rac-
ing Team's Ramirez has 126.
"The second loop—maybe a
quarter way into the [50-mile-
long] second loop—I just hit a
gnarly wall and I couldn't read the
terrain, I couldn't read the turns,"
Brabec said. "I definitely made
every single mistake you can
make in a hare and hound race. I
thought Ivan [Ramirez] was lead-
ing still so I just wanted to finish
second and get some points
because I wasn't feeling too well.
"The last five miles, I was on
Struggle Street. I fell like three
times and my vision got worse. I
came in, I was shaking and I had
no idea I'd won."
Brabec had a tough race from
the start, as his normally quick-
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
After another bad start, Ricky
Brabec got the lead late in the first
loop and held on to win for the
second time this season.
