2024 AMA National Hare & Hound Round 2 Results

Mark Kariya | March 26, 2024

It’s been a long dry season for Liqui Moly Beta’s Joe Wasson, but he broke his winless drought with a thrilling triumph in Murphy, Idaho, at Dirt Inc’s Rabbit Creek 100, round two of the AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series, presented by FMF, on March 24.

Joe Wasson at 2024 Rabbit Creek 100 Hare & Hound — **Rain on Saturday morning left the course dust-free for Sunday’s National, promoting close racing for the entire 100 miles in Idaho. Joe Wasson came away with his first win since 2022.**

Photos by mark Kariya

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-Road Team’s Austin Walton got the best of Wasson’s teammate Zane Roberts at the finish to claim second and the two find themselves tied for the series points lead at 46, unofficially. Three-time and defending series Dalton Shirey was in recovery/damage-control mode after a recent crash while practicing and finished fifth; combined with his round-one win, the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna star remains part of the Championship equation as he also has 46 points, unofficially.

After claiming the Championship in 2021, Wasson notched a single victory in 2022, with injury later that year and in recovery for much of 2023. This year, a few extraordinary issues have left him somewhat frustrated, but he never doubted himself and proved he still has the speed.

“Coming into this one, I didn’t let that stuff bother me. I know this place like the back of my hand,” the Fiji Waters/Pirelli/Fly Racing-backed 480 RR rider insisted. After getting around holeshot winner Preston Campbell on his Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda CRF450RX, Wasson, Roberts and Walton battled closely for the majority of both the 60-mile first loop and 40-mile second loop. With no dust to contend with, everyone could ride right on the rear tire of whoever was in front if desired and as a result, the pace was faster than usual. The intensity led to numerous missed turns and position swapping.

Wasson said, “One of the last passes I made, he made a mistake and I got by him, and I held it because I knew we were getting really close to the finish line. I couldn’t let him back around so I turned it up to 110 percent, but it was so hard because if you were leading, the boys could key off you a little bit. You couldn’t really get away from anybody today, so you had to be smooth and consistent and not make any mistakes and really read the terrain.”

Sam Pretscherer at 2024 Rabbit Creek 100 Hare & Hound — **Sam Pretscherer backed up his Pro 250 victory at round one with a dominating one in Idaho, besting class runner-up D.J. Weber by over six minutes.**

As they headed to the finish, it appeared Roberts was in position to make it a Beta 1-2.

Walton, however, had other plans. The Dunlop/Motorex/Fly Racing FX 450-mounted rider saw Roberts let up momentarily just before the checkered flag and stuffed it underneath the FMF/Pirelli/Klim 480 RR-mounted Roberts.

“I came in aggressive, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes,” Walton said. “No disrespect to Zane; it’s racing—I’d expect him to do it to me, so I know I’d hold my line, so I didn’t give him the opportunity. I hope he doesn’t hate me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s frustrated with me because I’d be frustrated with him if it was the other way around, but that’s just racing.”

Having worked hard to recover after a poor start made it doubly frustrating for Roberts who said, “I guess you’ve got to race to the checkered flag. I thought the scoring chute started where the chute starts, but the scoring chute is after the checkered flag, apparently. It is what it is. If people want to get aggressive, I can get aggressive back. It’s half my fault for letting up and thinking we were done.”

Campbell held on for fourth—matching his first-round result—followed by Shirey, who’d stopped to help after seeing Clayton Roberts go down hard on the bomb run. Officials gave him a minute off his final time, though it didn’t change his final place.

After getting back underway in last, Shirey found it difficult to maintain consistent intensity, noting, “I couldn’t stay real focused because my back was hurting me, too, after my recent practice crash, so it would come in waves where I thought, ‘Okay, focus and charge,’ then I’d go, ‘Aww, I’ve got to relax a little bit then go again. I couldn’t ride 100 percent this race, and I kept thinking about Clayton—that was a bad crash.”

Clayton Roberts was airlifted to a local hospital and the entire off-road community wishes him a speedy and full recovery.

Having come out of seemingly nowhere to win at round one, Sam Pretscherer proved that it was no fluke by winning Pro 250 again aboard his Simford Group Motorsport/Ame Grips/Fly Racing-backed FX 250.

“I definitely had a good start, and for the first 40 miles, I was with Zane,” he said. “After the pit stop, they sort of started to gap me out. After a few more miles, I had a decent gap on [eventual runner-up D.J. Weber], and I kind of rode my own race until the second loop when I got lost—again! So, I just turned back around, and I think I lost one position, and that was about it, so I just picked that position back off and had a bit of a battle there with I’m not too sure who it was.”

He added, “I did a last-minute gearing change, which was lucky because I had motocross gearing on and I definitely would’ve struggled if I’d had motocross gearing on for the race—it was a fast track!”

Weber was a minute and nine seconds back for second Pro 250, seventh overall, followed by third Pro 250 Matthew Combs.

Rachel Stout at 2024 Rabbit Creek 100 Hare & Hound — **Two-time and current Pro Women champ Rachel Stout made it two wins in a row with her Rabbit Creek 100 win over hard-enduro specialist Megan Griffith and Britney Gallegos.**

Husqvarna support rider Jason Harris took the top spot in 250cc A and was the first A rider in ninth overall on his after cumulative times were figured in. Fourth-place Pro 250 rider Alex Trapp rounded out the top 10 overall.

Jason Gibbons made it two in a row in Pro Vet 35+ over Darrin Tuckett—the same first two as round one. DC Racing Kawasaki’s Mike Jensen rounded out that podium.

In Pro Women, Rachel Stout added another win to her resume. The InnTeck/Full Factory Off-road/Fly Racing KTM 350 XC-F rider finished 28th overall, followed 14 seconds later by hard-enduro specialist Megan Griffith in her Hare & Hound debut. Liqui Moly Beta-supported Britney Gallegos rounded out the podium.