SERIES
VOL. 54 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 24, 2017 P69
RICKY BRABEC, TAYLOR ROBERT FIGHT TO THE
FINISH IN AMA HARE & HOUND OPENER
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK KARIYA
D
esert racing isn't known for tight battles and frequent lead chang-
es. It's not that desert racers can't go bar to bar with each other—
it's because the dust that generally defines desert racing prevents
close encounters.
But at the Desert Motorcycle Club's 50th Annual Winter Classic, the
opening round in the 10-race Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National
Championship Series, rain before and during the event permitted the
kind of racing generally reserved for flat track. As eventual winner Ricky
Brabec quipped, "It was like a NASCAR finish!"
Indeed it was, with no fewer than five riders leading at one point or
another around the two 40-mile loops at the Johnson Valley Off-Highway
Vehicle Area's Anderson Dry Lake. They included early leader Jacob
Argubright, Brabec, Taylor Robert, Gary Sutherlin and Joe Wasson.
With a few miles to
go, Taylor Robert
(33) drifted wide
allowing Ricky
Brabec to slide past.
Brabec beat the
series newcomer by
less than a foot at
the finish.
