ROBERT RULES NEVADA HARE & HOUND
B
elieve it or not, lifelong
Arizona resident Taylor
Robert had never ridden a good
ol' American desert race be-
fore rolling up to the start line
for the Silver State Trailblazers'
Purvines Racing Muley Run,
round five of the Kenda/SRT
AMA Hare & Hound National
Championship Series on August
28.
But that relative lack of desert
racing experience didn't seem
to hurt the Red Bull/FMF KTM
Factory Off-Road Racing Team
ace who has spent most of this
year racing for the first time in
the FIM Enduro World Cham-
pionship, where he sits fourth
in the E2 class with one round
left. Robert got the holeshot,
jumped into the lead by the time
he clicked into fourth gear on
his Dunlop/Motorex/Troy Lee
Designs-backed 450 XC-F and
spent the rest of the three-loop
race out front, concentrating on
following course ribbon.
Backing him up with a
second-place finish in his first
National after losing his spleen
earlier in the year was FMF KTM
support rider Gary Sutherlin,
while Rockstar Energy Husqvar-
na Factory Racing Off-Road
Team's Jacob Argubright round-
ed out the podium.
"I'm trying something I've
kind of always wanted to do but
never really had a good oppor-
tunity to," Robert said. "Maybe
it's something to look forward
to next year. I'm not sure if I'm
going to go back to Europe and
do those races or not; that's still
kind of up in the air."
As for the race itself, Robert
said, "It was a little difficult [to
get used to]. There were actu-
ally some pretty fun parts out
there, but I'm definitely not used
to going that fast. I've done the
Baja 500 and 1000, but in those
races you know exactly where
you're going. Here, you have no
idea where you're going so that
was a little bit different, but I had
IN
THE
WIND
P28
It didn't matter that
Taylor Robert had
never ridden a hare
and hound before,
he still won.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
