VOL. 54 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 19, 2017 P135
G
ary Sutherlin doesn't mind doing things
the hard way. Wrenching on his race
bikes, driving to the races in his own truck,
and doing pretty much everything on his own—
including raising his now six-year-old daughter
Emerie—doesn't faze the 30-year-old from Arizona.
Instead, the "blue collar" racer simply goes about
his business, doesn't complain, and gets the job
done, the job of winning championships, that is.
This year, Sutherlin won two of them—the World
Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) and the
AMA Hare & Hound National Championship. At
the beginning of year, after a disastrous 2016 sea-
son that was besieged by injuries, some doubted
that he could even win one of them, let alone
both, but Sutherlin had no doubt that he could
and went out and proved his doubters wrong.
"I had the goal of winning both of them
[WORCS and H&H]; I don't know how many
people actually believed me because I was out
most of '16," says Sutherlin. "It was just rewarding
to pull through this year."
After a promising 2015 season, Sutherlin
caught the eye of FMF KTM Off-Road Team
Manager Antti Kallonen who gave him support
for 2016, but an injury just before the season got
started and another later in the year didn't look
good on his resume.
"Getting hurt and missing two rounds and not
being able to fight for a championship in 2016
cost me a ride basically," says Sutherlin. So he
went looking for a new ride for 2017 and found
one with the Ron Purvines-owned Purvines Team.
Purvines offered Sutherlin a ride but, believe it
or not, Sutherlin wasn't quick to say yes. At the
time, the Purvines team ran Beta motorcycles but
Sutherlin didn't think that the Italian metal was the
best fit for him.
Most racers go into the racing season
with their eyes focused on winning a
championship, not two championships,
but Gary Sutherlin isn't most racers.
BY KIT PALMER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK KARYIA
AND HARLEN FOLEY
T W O T I M E S
Champ
