IN
THE
WIND
P20
BURSON WINS LUCERNE
AMA WEST HARE SCRAMBLES
N
ick Burson proved to be
untouchable in the California
desert yet again, taking his sec-
ond overall victory of the year
on September 4, and bumping
his points lead to 44 with just
two rounds remaining in the
2016 AMA West Hare Scrambles
Championship.
Out of the gate, Nick Burson
and his Purvines Beta 480RR
were on a mission to show the
rest of the West Hare Scrambles
players that this was his home
turf. With fast names on the
line like Gary Sutherlin, Justin
Morgan and Dalton Shirey, just
to name a few, it was a perfect
start that propelled Burson to
the front of the pack.
"This is what I have been
waiting for," said winner Burson.
"I have fought through the mud,
the trees, been ahead in points
on their soil, and I wanted to
come home and do just that
here—lead start to finish."
The surprise of the day, how-
ever, came in the form of two
new faces on the NHHA po-
dium, as round six proved to be
a coming of age of sorts for two
of Southern California's top up-
and-coming desert racers. Ryan
Smith, who has been riding his
Rick's Custom Shutters and
Blinds-backed YZ450F to top-
five finishes for over two years
finally kept pace with the leader
and physically paced Burson for
the first three laps. Riding within
30 seconds of the lead for three
17-mile laps, Smith was ecstatic
at the finish.
"It was good to get that
second-place start behind Nick,
and I stayed just out of his dust
for the whole first loop," Smith
said. "From there I just rode
my pace and pushed right to
the end. On the last lap, I was
starting to get tired and knew if I
could hold on and keep my pace
I was going to finish second."
Smith could have stopped
for a sandwich and still finished
second, as the Burson/Smith
pace was nearly five minutes
ahead of the rest of the competi-
tion.
Next to cross the line was a
visually exhausted Ox Motor-
sports/City Service Paving-
Nick Burson topped the Lucerne
round of the AMA West Hare
Scrambles Championship.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
RYAN
SANDERS
