Taylor Robert takes Hare & Hound win at Utah

Utah Hare & Hound

Photo Credit: Mark Kariya

KTM’s Taylor Robert led home the field of riders at round six of the AMA National Hare & Hound Championship to win in Utah.

The AMA KENDA SRT National Hare & Hound series returned to the state of Utah for round six hosted by X12 and USRA and SIDRA. Rocky hill climbs, steep canyons and wide-open grassy fields made for a course that was a jack of all trades.

Considering round six plays as the last race before Summer break, riders were out to give it all they had in effort to gain valuable points. In the build up to the event JCR Honda rider, and 2016 champion Ricky Brabec confirmed he would miss the event. 

Off the start, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing's Jacob Argubright looked to have the holeshot wrapped up until Tuffy Pearson edged him out at the turn onto the course. Over the next 5-miles, the top 5 settled into their place, until an unmarked turn sent both Jacob Argubright and Purvines DA8 Yamaha's Nick Burson into a river. The course error, unfortunately, ended both of their days with mechanical issues. 

As the race went on, Purvines DA8 Yamaha's Axel Pearson held the lead on loop one with Tuffy Pearson, Taylor Robert and Gary Sutherlin behind. After coming through the pits and heading out to loop two, FMF KTM Factory Racing's Taylor Robert swiftly took the lead with Purvines DA8 Yamaha's Gary Sutherlin making the move into second. 

 

Photo Credit: Mark Kariya

 

A challenging loop three welcomed the racers with rocky terrain, steep uphills, and descents. Ultimately, it was Taylor Robert who would take the checkered flag first, followed by Gary Sutherlin and Tuffy Pearson. Pearsons per, who has been on the rise since returning from his racing hiatus just a couple months ago. 

Finishing within the top 10 overall, the FMF Pro 250 class had an exciting race long battle of their own! Off the start, current points leader Tyler Lynn joined both Argubright and Burson in the river off the start, forcing him to DNF. Coming in from loop one, Ryan Karell led the competition 20-seconds over Daemon Woolslayer, Nick Tolman, Braydon Bland and Clayton Gerstner. 

Over the second loop, Karell lost his lead as Tolman made the pass to get up front. Tolman maintained his pace in the lead, while Karell, Gerstner, Woolslayer and Bland all battled on the final loop for their podium spot. Ultimately, Tolman earned himself the class win ahead of Gerstner and Bland at the checkered flag, while Karell and Woolslayer finished top five. 

The excitement of the Women's class continued as new contenders showed up to challenge the front runners. Women's Motocross talent Brandy Richards entered her first ever National Hare and Hound, while past National Hare and Hound Women's Champion Maggie Pearson returned to her first round in two years! 

Coming in from loop one, Maggie Pearson led the entire Women's field coming in 25th overall. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue would cause her to DNF, allowing Britney Gallegos to advance. Richards keyed off of Gallegos in second, while Martinez-Coy fought to close the 3-minute gap. 

Over the next two loops, the runnings stood consistently until Gallegos ultimately raced to the checkered flag with the win. Richards claimed second in her first ever NHHA event, while Martinez-Coy finished nearly 6-minutes behind. 

Kacy Martinez-Coy maintains the points lead over Britney Gallegos and Stephanie Woolslayer heading into round 7.

 

Photo Credit: Mark Kariya

 

Racing kicked off bright and early Saturday morning with the 50cc race. KTM mounted Ryker Sperry who took an early lead ahead of Brennen Watson, Grady Ballow, Tanner Smith and Sean Taylor Freeman. Over the course of the 30-minute, 3-lap race, the ranks shifted dramatically by the final lap. Both Sperry and Ballow suffered from a mishap that allowed Watson to advance with Smith and Freeman in tow to the finish line. Given the results, the points chase gets even MORE interesting as both Sperry and Watson now sit TIED heading into summer break. 

In the Girls 12-15 class, local talent changed up the usual ranks, making for a solid day of competitive racing! But for Kortney Kearsley, a lead from start to finish would prove her impressive talent. Jaquel Bennet, who maintained 2nd place from start to finish, kept her head down to hammer out laps in an effort to catch Kearsley. Meanwhile, class points leader Kassidy Laswell made it out of a battle with Alijah Delatore and Emily Taylor to take the third place podium position. 

What has become one of the most intense seasons of racing in the Big Wheel class, continued without disappointment as the action played out Saturday morning. Off the start, Mason Matthies, Hagen Boyce and Porter Black charged for the holeshot. But coming in from lap one, it was Davin Rhodes who led the group before ultimately being passed by Matthies. Meanwhile, Boyce and Black fought for the third overall position and ultimately secured them as Rhodes DNF'd on the second to last lap. Aaron Rhodes and Dawson Woods would round out the top five in a tough class of competition. 

AJP’s PR7 Rally bike ready for business

We’ve been keeping a watchful eye on Portuguese bike builder AJP as their PR7 rally bike transforms from prototype to bonafide racer. With the Africa Eco Race pencilled in for 2017, Henrique Nogueira puts the bike through it’s paces…

Alpinestars Tech-Air™

Alpinestars – Tech-Air

Alpinestars Tech-Air™, the world’s most advanced active rider air bag system, has been honored at the annual Consumer Electronics Show Asia Innovation Awards in Shanghai, China. Celebrating outstanding product design and innovative engineering in new consumer technology products, Tech-Air™ took away the top prize in the ‘Wearables’ category.

Alpinestars Tech-Air™ is the world’s first and only independent airbag system providing complete critical full upper body protection. It functions without relying on external sensors, including GPS and can be used with any make or model of motorbike. Tech-Air™ uses a sophisticated algorithm which has been evolved over a decade of research and development, hundreds of thousands of miles of road testing and a multitude of full-scale crash tests in order to detect all types of crashes and ensure the airbag is fully inflated before the rider suffers an impact.

Alpinestars has launched two versions of the system Tech-Air™ Street (2014) and Tech-Air™ Race (2016). The technology is now available from Alpinestars dealers across Europe and markets worldwide.

Alpinestars is the world’s leading performance motorsports apparel, motorcycling airbag protection and technical footwear company. Developing performance technology with market leading style and innovation sets Alpinestars apart and today the company has headquarters and R&D facilities in Los Angeles and Italy, with regional offices in Tokyo and Bangkok.

Alpinestars leads the way in active air bag technology for riders and their passengers and the CES Innovation Award winning Tech-Air™ technology featured on the Alpinestars Stand and as part of the main technology exhibition at the CES Show in Shanghai, China, between 7 and 10 June 2017

Parity or just to early to judge?

AMA Nationals – Parity

Parity in American Motocross is something that does not happen a whole lot. Every year, a clear favorite seems to find a rhythm and start clicking off consistent wins. In fact, in the 17 years that we have been in the new millennium, three 450MX Motocross championships have ended with only one rider winning every moto. Ricky Carmichael was the first rider to have a perfect season doing, it in 2002 and again in 2004. James Stewart followed with a perfect season in 2008. So when there are a lot of different riders who not only have a chance to win, but are actually winning, it is very noticeable.

The last two weeks in American Motocross have been wild. There have been eight motos ran: four at Glen Helen and four at Thunder Valley. Both classes ran two motos at each race, and they produced a result that has not occurred seen since May 28, 2000. In eight possible races over two weeks, eight different riders won a Moto. Here is a look at how the motos laid out at Glen Helen and Thunder Valley:

It is incredible. Last year, only three riders won motos in the 450MX class all season long and now four different winners have won motos in two weeks. So when was the last time this happened? Well, you have to go all the way back to the second and third rounds of the 2000 MX season. In 2017, it was also the second and third round where this strange occurrence happened but this happened at Glen Helen and Thunder Valley. Back then, rounds two and three took place at Hangtown and High Point. This was also back when the classes were still regarded as the 125cc and 250cc classes instead of the four-stroke era 250MX and 450MX classes. Here is how it broke down back then:

It took 17 years for it to happen again, and it seems so weird that it would happen now. If someone told me that this would have happened in the 2017 Motocross season and that Eli Tomac would not be one of the guys to have won a moto during this bizarre stretch, I would have laughed. Tomac has had some bad luck during this span, so he is very capable of turning things around once the series resumes in a week and a half at High Point. But for now, we have five different moto winners in both classes after six motos this season.

Looking at this eight moto run of ridiculous unpredictability, there is one thing different about this 2017 sequence when compared to what happened back in 2000. With eight different moto winners, you would have to believe that there would be four different overall winners as well; assuming that one of the riders who won a moto, also won the overall. Well, that’s not quite how it went down. In 2017, there were four different overall winners, but there were only three different overall winners. This happened because David Vuillemin won back-to-back weeks by going 2-2 for the overall at Hangtown and then 3-1 for the overall at High Point in the 250cc class. Even though he didn’t win a moto at Hangtown, he still claimed the overall. This actually connects the 2000 sequence to 2017 in a weird way as Zach Osborne won the 250MX overall at Glen Helen going 4-2 even though he did not win a moto in the past two weeks.

Realistically, I don’t bring this up to say that we are really in for a wild year now. History shows that multiple successive race winners are a very rare occurrence and the chances of this trend continuing are slim to none. In 2000, Ricky Carmichael ended up winning the 250cc championship by 83 points over Sebastien Tortelli. There is still a lot of racing left but that also means there is plenty of time for someone to find their groove and go on a winning streak. No matter what happens, nobody could have predicted this wild start to the season and it has certainly made for some great racing.

360 Helmet Cam: Jeremy Martin at Glen Helen

Get an adrenaline rush as you ride along with professional Motocross and Supercross racer, Jeremy Martin, at the Glen Helen Raceway in this year's 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season

Down under with KTM Australia’s Lyndon Snodgrass

Newly recruited Australian KTM Enduro Team Rider Lyndon Snodgrass shows us around one of his training compounds. How'd you like to have a course like this in your backyard?

KTM Is Riding High!

Austrian Power Plant

Hard work pays off, and there is no harder working teams in the motocross world than the Red Bull KTM Factory team, and their little brother (who is probably growing up quick enough to be the big brother one day), Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory team.

While KTM might not have won the last two MXGP titles (they went the HRC and Yamaha), you cannot deny they are the strongest team in world motocross, and it doesn’t look like they will be slowing down any time soon.

At present, they have big points leads in the MXGP (Antonio Cairoli), MX2 (Pauls Jonass) and AMA 450 motocross championship (Marvin Musquin), and their Husqvarna rider, Zach Osborne leads the AMA 250 championship. Oh, did we also mention they have already won the 2017 AMA 450 Supercross championship with Ryan Dungey, and Osborne gave the Husky a title in the AMA 250 SX series.

With names like Roger De Coster, Joel Smets, Heinz Kinigadner, Jacky Martens, Antti Pyrhonen, Pit Beirer and so many other former racers working for them, and some of the best technicians in the sport, the future looks bright for the orange army.

In the toughest motocross championship in the world, the MXGP class, KTM and their little brother Husqvarna are first and second in the manufacturers classification, KTM with 374 pts, Husqvarna 316pts, and HRC third with 311 pts. They are also first and second in the rider points with Antonio Cairoli and Gautier Paulin.

In the MX2 manufacturers classification they are first and third, with 414pts for KTM, Suzuki second with 341pts and then Husky with 336pts. Can the Husky boys put the Austrian brands first and second after Russia?

When Blake Baggett took his KTM to victory last weekend, ahead of the KTM of Marvin Musquin and the Husqvarna or Jason Anderson, it was just what the many in Europe expected. In the championship Musquin leads Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac, with Baggett and Anderson third and fourth, while Dean Wilson is 6^th in the points standings.

In the AMA 450 Motocross championships Osborne leads with 119pts to KTM rider Alex Martin. This against the all-mighty power of the Pro-Circuit Kawasaki team.

In the biggest national championship in Europe, the Dutch Masters of Motocross Jeffrey Herlings leads the 450 class, followed by Gautier Paulin (Husqvarna) and Max Anstie (Husqvarna). In the MX2 class its Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna) leading two KTM riders in Brian Bogers and Calvin Vlaanderen.

Hey, even Christophe Pourcel is winning on a Husqvarna in Canada!!!

'Jim Ross' calls highlights of Thunder Valley National

Race Report like you've never heard before!

The action was so incredible at round three of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross at Thunder Valley that it almost seemed fake. Did Justin Bogle really win after a fire broke out in the RCH pits? Did El Chupacabra return from the depths? Did the 250 Class really come down to four riders and one point? Was this all scripted? Hmmmm, maybe it’s best to hear it through the voice of legendary pro wrestling announcer “Jim Ross.” Enjoy racing like you’ve never heard it before!

Australian Supercross Championship

CDR Yamaha confirms Ferris for supercross campaign

MX Nationals champion commits to full 2017 season.

Image: Jeremy Hammer.

CDR Yamaha’s Dean Ferris has confirmed he will contest this year’s Australian Supercross Championship after initially signing a motocross-only contract ahead of the 2017 season.

Ferris made the late decision to commit to this year’s schedule after achieving success during the 2016 series as he claimed one round victory and finished in second-place behind Justin Brayton in the SX1 championship.

“I signed my motocross contract for 2017 in the early stages of for last year’s supercross championship and I wanted to get through the series and see how I felt and if I enjoyed that style of racing again before I made any commitments for 2017,” Ferris said.

“Last year was the first time I had done supercross with a great team behind me and on an awesome bike and when I reflect on the championship, I realised how much fun I had and that I would like to do it again.

“Craig [Dack] and I had been discussing it for the past few weeks and I told him I was in and the contract was drawn up. It was a simple decision really, and I love going racing with everyone at CDR Yamaha.”

The defending Motul MX Nationals MX1 champion aims to be a well-rounded contender and believes his 2017 supercross performance will improve due to added experience heading into the series.

“Being able to ride both motocross and supercross well is important and having the skills for racing indoors or out will only benefit my riding,” he explained.

“Last year my preparations were limited to due racing the Motocross of Nations but I was able to find my feet pretty fast so that was good and now with the bit of experience and knowledge gained, hopefully this year the process will be a little easier.

“It is also a great opportunity to race oversees competitors who do our races. Last year it was cool to line up alongside Chad Reed, Ryan Villopoto, Justin Brayton and Cooper Webb, while this year Jason Anderson and Reed have already been conformed for the AUS-X Open round so that is something to look forward to.”

The 2017 Australian Supercross Championship is set to kick off on 23 September at Jimboomba in Queensland.

KTM's Musquin Interview

Marvin Musquin interview

Before the start of the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, a lot of us thought Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin would be a factor here and there, but the former two-time MX2 World Champion has been a factor everywhere. With Ryan Dungey retired and Trey Canard out injured, Musquin has been the only rider in the Red Bull / KTM pits, and the #25 has definitely made the team happy about focusing all their resources on only him these during first three rounds of the series.

At the 2017 Thunder Valley National last weekend, Marvin struggled with a first turn crash in moto one and a bad start in moto two, but he was still able to make the day a positive one. In moto one, a first turn crash forced Marvin to fight from behind, but he still crossed the finish line with a fourth. Marvin’s moto two start was better, but he was still buried outside the top ten through the first turn. Just like in moto one, Marvin carved his way forward for thirty-minutes plus two laps and, this time, made his way up to third. Surprisingly, Marvin’s 4-3 on the day was good enough for second overall, but inconsistency seems to be the theme of the 2017 outdoor series in both classes.

In a very inconsistent 450MX class, Marvin has shown Dungey-like consistency with a 2-2-1-3-4-3 scorecard, and because of that, he now takes a 17-point lead into the series’ first weekend off. After the Thunder Valley National was in the books, I caught up with the Frenchman by his motor home in the pits.

Marvin, good day overall for you, but a rough patch to get to the good results. How did you feel about your day?

Yeah, exactly! Practice went super good. It was really nice, but I knew the track was going to get harder. Here, they always get deep ruts, and the inside gets soft and crusty on top. It’s rough but a good track. My starts were not really good, especially in that first moto. Unfortunately, Josh Grant went down in front of us and I couldn’t avoid him. From pretty far back to fourth place was awesome. In the second moto, I wish I had a better start to battle with [Blake] Baggett and [Eli] Tomac, but I think Baggett was faster today. Speed-wise, he was on it today, but I wish I was with Eli. Eli got better in that second moto. But to get third in that second moto was good considering the start. We need better starts, but here at high altitude—starting in first gear—I struggled. I couldn’t get a good jump. That’s why it was a tough day. It put me in a tough position and I had to fight really hard. But that’s what we do. I gave 100% and it was good to get second overall.

Do you play around with testing first gear starts versus second gear starts at this altitude, or is it so obvious that only first gear starts work good here?

Yeah, it’s only here in Colorado. I’ve tried second gear here, but you always want to get a good jump, so first gear is better.

Did Blake’s speed here today surprise you at all?

Yes and no. Yes, because he was definitely faster and he won the overall, but then, no because that’s Blake Baggett outdoors. He’s always been a good rider and a tough rider. It was a great day for him, for sure.

Blake’s a lot like you in the sense that if you give him some confidence, he will run with it.

Yeah, exactly. His confidence right now is definitely higher, but we have the same bike and it will be a battle.

You have one of your best tracks coming up at the next round at High Point. Is it important to keep that momentum?

Yeah, I think so. Those first three rounds are tough tracks, especially Glen Helen. To get away from here with a second place and a win the week before and still be leading the championship is awesome.

Surprisingly, you actually gained two point from a 15-point lead to 17 points with a 4-3 scorecard.

Yeah, considering my starts and the crash, it was a good day. I think we’ll have better tracks.

At the beginning of the year if someone told you that you were going to have a win and a 17-point lead in the 450 championship after round three, you would probably be pretty happy with that.

Oh, for sure. You never know where you’re at when you start the season. Last year was not easy outdoors. I got good by the end, but a few guys were injured, and it was only [Ken] Roczen, me and Tomac. And then [Justin] Barcia sometimes. This year, we have Blake Baggett, [Jason] Anderson and Tomac are the top four right now. Sometimes there are others that can ride well. It’s a great championship, and I think it’s good for the fans.

Speaking of other guys stepping up, where did that ride in the first moto by Justin Bogle come from? That win was unexpected.

Actually, I didn’t know. I looked ahead of me in the first moto and I saw Anderson, and I’m like, “Well, Anderson is leading.” I thought Baggett got second and I got third. Yeah, I got to the finish line and saw Bogle winning. It’s really good for him. Me and Justin moved up to the 450 class at the same time last year and we battled in the 250 class. I know how hard it is to move up to the 450, and he has had tough times like me—with a little bit of injuries and stuff—so it’s good for him. Congratulations to him.

With Ryan gone, the class really feels like the 250 class of just a couple of years ago. You’ve battled all these kids for years. What’s your plan for the weekend off now? Do you get to rest up a little?

We’ll be able to have a nice weekend at home and that’s it. Just enjoy being home. Me and Mathilde—my wife—we’ll maybe go on the lake and stuff like that. Take the jet-ski and have some fun. It’s a tough sport and we race a lot, every weekend. The pressure and the work during the week, it will be nice to enjoy some time off.

Photos by: Simon Cudby