2023 AMA West Hare Scrambles Round One Results

Mark Kariya | March 15, 2023

After a couple laps to check out lines and confirm the pace of defending champion and early leader Giacomo Redondi of the 3 Bros./Hatch Racing GasGas team, FMF KTM Factory Racing Off-Road Racing Team’s Dante Oliveira made his move for the lead and went on to win the Lassen Motorcycle Club’s Diamondback Hare Scramble, round one of the AMA West Hare Scrambles (WHS) Regional Championship Series, presented by Mojo MotoSport, March 12.

2023 AMA West Hare Scrambles Round One — Dante Oliveira (356) spent most of the race up front, including when it counted. Defending champ Giacomo Redondi (1) led early and finished second, while Zane Roberts (851) took third and Joe Wasson (45) fourth.

Photos by Mark Kariya

LiquiMoly Beta rider Zane Roberts, the local favorite and winner of the inaugural running of this race two years ago, rebounded from a first-turn incident and marched quickly from last to ultimately finish third.

Oliveira snagged the holeshot at the dead-engine start aboard his Red Bull/Motorex/Thor-backed 450 XC-F ahead of Redondi, LiquiMoly Beta’s Joe Wasson and the rest of the Open Pro line. But before completing that first tour of the nine-mile loop at the Ft. Sage Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Area, Redondi and his FMF/ Acerbis/ Seven-backed MC 450F slipped past.

Oliveira didn’t panic, knowing that the race would be at least two and a half hours long, with rain, mud and snow increasing the chances of time-consuming mistakes. It was a different strategy than the previous weekend’s 90-minute FMF AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series where, he said, “Grand Prix are full send, start to the end; you don’t lift, so that’s a little different.”

He continued, “I have speed on my side so I know at any point I can send it [in hare scrambles] and really put on a charge so I wasn’t really worried about what he was doing.

“The second I could get around him, I got around him and then just tried to stay out in front of these guys. Randomly, they’d catch me out there and I’d have to take off again, but it was a fun race, I was stoked on the event, it was super-fun riding and I’m looking forward to what the rest of these races have to offer.”

Layton Smail at 2023 AMA West Hare Scrambles Round One — Pro 250 winner Layton Smail didn’t panic when he found himself deep in the field off the start. Even with one get-off, he steadily worked his way to the front and earned sixth overall in the process.

Technically, Redondi led the first 30-plus minutes with Oliveira on his rear fender, but the current number one had an issue with the roll-off film of his goggles sticking. The momentary lapse was the opening Oliveira took advantage of, though Redondi wasn’t done as they went back and forth.

“It was like playing cat-and-mouse pretty much the first two hours, then I saw him pitting so I say, ‘I push, I push, I push,’ but maybe I pushed too much because I had a pretty big crash, but nothing happened to my body, just the bike that was pretty twisted,” Redondi reported. With a bent bike, time running out and seven rounds to go, he decided to simply finish, saying, “I’m fine [with] the second [place]; I already used all my jokers because we were going very fast.”

Indeed, with about 30 minutes left, he was less than 10 seconds behind Oliveira and had some two and a half minutes on Roberts who somehow came back on the opening lap from that last-place start to third aboard his Mika Metals/Pirelli/Klim-sponsored 480 RR.

He’d chosen the far outside into the right-hand first turn but got pushed wide and ended up stuck in a big clump of sage brush but dismissed the incident: “It took a little while to get out of there, but it kind of took the pressure off because you’re just chasing from the bike, I guess. I’m comfortable here and I like this area, so I wasn’t super-worried. Obviously, I would’ve preferred to be up there in the lead pack off the bat, but it wasn’t too big a deal.”

Teammate Wasson occupied a lonely fourth for practically the entire race on his FMF/IMS/Fly Racing 480 RR ahead of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Austin Walton—another new face in the series.

The sloppy conditions were fine with Covington, Washington’s Layton Smail and his JMC Motorsports/ Halterman’s RV/Just 1 GasGas MC 250F. “I had a blast! Last year being drier was definitely a lot faster; this year was definitely more of a challenge, which put me up at the top spot, I feel like.” He thus opened his 2023 WHS campaign winning Pro 250 despite one crash and finishing sixth overall after early class leader Clayton Roberts DNFed with an overheated bike.

Ava Silvestri at 2023 AMA West Hare Scrambles Round One — **Defending Pro Women’s champ Ava Silvestri opened her campaign with a solid victory in the 90-minute morning race, followed by series newcomer Mikayla Nielsen and Britney Gallegos.**

Second Pro 250 and seventh overall went to longtime series regular Anthony Ferrante aboard his Mojo MotoSport/ Six Five O Racing/ Fasthouse MC 250F, followed by Ryder Thomaselli, the first 250cc A and top A overall on his Carson City Motorsports/DDC/Seven Husky FX 250.

Defending Pro 250 champ Mason Ottersberg survived a gear-shredding get-off to claim third in class and ninth overall on his new Dallas Chidester (DC) Racing/ Precision Concepts/ FXR Sherco 250 SEF Factory. ISDE vet Tyler Vore rounded out the top 10 overall on his Hall’s Cycles GasGas EX 250.

3 Bros./Hatch Racing GasGas rider Ava Silvestri opened the defense of her 2022 AMA WHS Pro Women’s Championship with a convincing win over newcomer Mikayla Nielsen and Britney Gallegos.

“Just being prepared for the weather definitely helped a lot in terms of goggle prep and…trying to keep your gloves as clean as possible,” the FMF/Six Five O Racing/ Troy Lee Designs EX 250F-mounted winner said.