Mark Kariya | November 21, 2022
Giacomo Redondi, Mason Ottersberg and Ava Silvestri put the perfect finishing touches on their seasons by winning their respective Pro classes at the seventh and final round of the AMA West Hare Scrambles (WHS) Regional Championship Series, Presented by MojoMotoSport, November 19-20.
While 3 Bros./Kilmartin Racing GasGas rider Giacomo Redondi had already clinched the overall Pro championship at the previous round and notched his third-straight triumph, Ottersberg and Silvestri just needed safe rides to wrap up the Pro 250 and Pro Women titles, respectively. However, both refused to simply ride around. Instead, they put in performances more akin to last-gasp efforts to claim their crowns—Ottersberg by winning and Silvestri taking second at the always popular Lodestar Ranch, where the Nor Cal Motorcycle Club held its 69th Annual Wilseyville Hare Scrambles.
Redondi struck first with the holeshot. Photos: Mark Kariya
For Redondi, Wilseyville couldn’t have gone much better as he claimed the holeshot for the first time and fended off some early challenges en route to his fourth victory of the season. Among the early challengers was FMF KTM Factory Racing Off-road Team’s Taylor Robert making his long-anticipated return to racing after his serious injury in May. After running second, though, the winner of the first two rounds conceded that he still has work to do and called it a day.
“I was super-stoked to take the holeshot and ride my own pace [for] the entire [race],” the Kilmartin Racing GasGas EX 450F rider said.
Giacomo Redondi finally claimed his third-straight win and fourth of the series.
Several surprise entries among the 959 riders for the weekend guaranteed Redondi wouldn’t get away easily. First, there was FMF RPM Racing KTM’s Mateo Oliveira. Normally seen only at grand prix-style events, he decided at the last minute to get more seat time on his RPM Racing Team KTM 450 XC-F as he preps for next year’s assault on the Open Pro division.
He waited until lap four of the two-and-a-half-hour race to pit, which allowed him to get tantalizingly close to Redondi, who’d pitted the previous lap.
“We were close—on lap three, we were battling like [at] a GP,” Redondi laughed, “but here, it’s difficult to make some passes because of lappers [and the tight trail].”
With the win, Redondi wrapped up the title.
A somewhat lonely third at the finish, LiquiMoly Beta’s Zane Roberts got off to a rough start aboard his Beta 480 RR.
“I got a bad start, and that kind of put me in the chaos. I think I went down five times in the first, probably, three miles!” he said. “I don’t know what was going on.
I was about ready to head in [to the pits] and call it good. I wasn’t too far off [at the end] of that first lap—could see Mateo and Taylor out here in the field. I knew I was still in it, but those guys were riding awesome the rest of the race, so they got away from me there.”
Despite a bad case of pre-race nerves, Mason Ottersberg settled in when the race started. He defeated title rival Jaden Dahners, enough to wrap up the Pro 250 Championship.
For Dallas Chidester (DC) Yamaha’s Ottersberg and his Precision Concepts/Rocket Exhaust/Law Tigers/Pure Adrenaline YZ250F, it was a relief to get the race going, though Team Manager Scott Perkins purposely avoided letting him know he was leading. So, Ottersberg thought he was second or third, not leading.
Needing to finish only 16th or better if rival Jaden Dahners won, Ottersberg said, “I’ll be quite honest—I’ve been nervous all weekend. I haven’t been in contention for a championship in I can’t tell you how long; these championships have been escaping me, so this one was very special to finish, but it was definitely a fight—I had to earn this one!
“I figured if the win was there, I’d try to get it, but my biggest goal was just get to the finish, ride safe, minimize mistakes and we ended up finishing first. Honestly, it was a surprise.”
Women’s podium – Britney Gallegos (center), Ava Silvestri (left), Ashlee Gage (right).
After a good battle, Dahners had to settle for second in class both on the day and in the final Pro 250 points on his Americool/TBT Racing/Nexus/Arai YZ250F while Maloney Training Facility/SixFiveO Racing/XC Gear/Fasthouse 250 XC-F rider Anthony Ferrante rounded out the podium.
The 90-minute morning race saw defending Pro Women champion Kaitlyn Jacobs get the jump into the downhill, off-camber first turn, but—emblematic of her season—she slid out on the slick inside and would take off last. Ultimately, the FMF RPM Racing KTM rider finished off the podium for the day and second in final points, glad to put a trying year behind her.
Second place earned Silvestri the women’s title.
Up front, 3 Bros./Kilmartin Racing GasGas rider Silvestri went to work aboard her EX 250F. However, the win went to Britney Gallegos, who wanted to get in another race this year and made the trip from Colorado with her Bobby J’s/Family/Fly Racing Husky TE 250. Early pacesetter and round-six winner Ashlee Gage claimed third on her Let’s Ride KTM 250 XC-F.
Having had her broken collarbone plated four days before round six, Silvestri still wasn’t 100 percent but said, “This round I came in a lot more confident [compared to the previous round two weeks ago] and didn’t really doubt it that much. But riding out there, it was like, yeah, you could tell it was still healing. I hit a couple chattery braking bumps and definitely you could feel it. I would say it definitely held me back a little bit today, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be.”
Earning a first big championship always takes some of the sting away.
Mark Kariya
OVERALL RESULTS
- Giacomo Redondi (GG)
- Mateo Oliveira (KTM)
- Zane Roberts (Bet)
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