HAAKER CROWNED KING OF THE MOTOS
C
ontinuing in the grand tradi-
tion of King of the Motos,
the race format saw another
change-up this year, with riders
taking on a three-moto format.
The demanding extreme race,
held in Lucerne Valley, California,
February 5, which requires riders
to navigate through an unmarked
course via GPS, added the ele-
ment of night racing to the 2017
event, giving riders a full gambit
of challenges en route to carding
a finish.
The weekend ended with some
confusion, and some hard luck
for KTM riders Cody Webb and
Taylor Robert. Webb took the
checkered flag in the final only
to find out he had missed the
final checkpoint near the finish
line, which cost him the race.
His FMF/KTM teammate fared
far worse, ending his weekend
in the hospital after a high-speed
crash. It was Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna's Colton Haaker who
emerged with the overall win, hav-
ing focused his race on remaining
steady and vigilant. He admits
Webb was the faster rider, but
his strategy of keeping the rub-
ber side down and hitting all the
checkpoints paid off in the end.
"I wasn't too worried about
chasing down Cody because
he was kinda gone each time,
honestly," Haaker said. "Obvi-
ously had Cody not gone the
wrong way, I would have ended
up second, but it was part of the
thing. You couldn't get too ahead
of yourself out there. You had to
make sure you followed [event
promoter] Jimmy Lewis' bread-
crumb trail to the best of your
ability."
Despite running all three
races out front, all it took was
one simple lapse in judgment for
the win to slip through Webb's
fingers. "I holeshot every race, I
did all the navigation, I rode really
good," Webb lamented. "Obvi-
ously I now I don't deserve to win
because I made a stupid mistake
in the final race. I just followed
the previous course from the
morning. It was completely my
fault."
IN
THE
WIND
P42
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
DREW
RUIZ
Held in conjunction
with the King of
Hammers four-wheel
event, the King of the
Motos motorcycle race
attracted another large
number of riders.
