Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/591918
IN THE WIND P36 GRAFFUNDER CLINCHES WEST HARE SCRAMBLES TITLE D ue to being out most of the year recov- ering from a broken wrist suffered at the end of last season, Rockstar Energy/ Bel-Ray Husqvarna Factory Racing Team's Jacob Argubright hasn't had many opportuni- ties to run his number-one plate in the Ken- da/SRT AMA West Hare Scrambles Cham- pionship Series. Round seven of the series will likely be the last time, but he made the most of it, leading almost all the way at the inaugural Fall Classic Hare Scramble hosted by the Desert Motorcycle Club. By finishing a strong second in terrain that's foreign to him, however, SRT KTM's Cory Graffunder clinched the series championship for the second time in his career (he first won in 2012). Purvines Racing Beta's Nick Burson rounded out the podium in third, unofficially moving him from third in points to a tie for second at 142 with Maxxis/FMF/RPM Racing KTM's Travis Coy who was fifth for the day. Being a brand-new event, the Desert M.C. stuck to a formula that's served to make the club somewhat infamous and laid out a long loop that had both fast and technical sections, all of it rough desert. Argubright got a great start aboard his FMF/ Braking/Moose Racing FC 450 but didn't run away with it, though, as Burson went for the win, knowing it was his only chance to keep his cham- pionship hopes alive. Burson felt right at home on the 18-mile loop, but things didn't work out quite as the Precision Concepts/Ame Grips/Klim 480 RR-mounted rider planned, having tweaked his wrist. "The last lap I blew my hand off the bars like three times trying to pin it through a valley be- cause I couldn't grip any more," he said. That meant he was unable to hold off the hard- charging Graffunder and his TBT Racing/Fasst Co./O'Neal Racing 300 XC, the 2012 champ adapting well to the foreign conditions. The championship was foremost in his mind, though, his goal being to wrap up the champion- ship, thus freeing him to race the EnduroCross round in Boise which is on the same day as the Hare Scrambles finale in Laughlin, Nevada. "I knew that if I came here and won, that would do it," Graffunder said. "Other than that, if I was second or third, I would have to have a few spots on both of those guys (Coy and Burson) to have more than 30 [points on them]. So with Jake out front and gone, I was trying to be a human calculator as I was racing, trying to push those thoughts out of my mind." Argubright won in two hours, 45 minutes and five seconds with Graffunder just 11 seconds back. Burson was a further 1:07 behind for third followed by teammate Axel Pearson and Coy. Ryan Smith, FMF 250cc Pro winner Dalton Shirey, Kyle Redmond and FMF 250cc Pros Clayton Gerstner and Nick Stover rounded out the top 10 overall. Mark Kariya PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK KARIYA Cory Graffunder sewed up his second- career AMA West Hare Scrambles title.