| April 9, 2024
More than 400 racers ventured down dirt roads to the Utah desert for round three of the AMA National Hare & Hound Championship, presented by FMF, April 6-7. The Sugarloafers MC hosted the Cherry Creek National, featuring 85 miles of single track, sand washes, elevation changes and technical sections. The region typically sees an abundance of moisture. This year brought a dusting of snow periodically throughout the race, but Beta’s Zane Roberts was hot en route to the overall victory.
Zane Roberts took the overall win at the Cherry Creek Hare & Hound National.
Story and Photos by Mary Rinell
With a three-way tie in the Pro class points going into the weekend, the anticipation for an exciting race day was palpable. Rockstar Husqvarna Factory Racing teammates Dalton Shirey (returning champion) and Hare & Hound newcomer Austin Walton were among two of the three, along with Factory Beta racer Roberts and his teammate Joe Wasson, who was knocking on the door in fourth, only two points behind the trio.
In high contrast to last round’s nearly mile-long bomb-run start, this week had a much shorter run, with a tighter-than-a-knot pinch point at the flags, leading the racers into the desert to follow the ribbon for the next couple of hours. Once they cleared the bomb, Shirey pulled out in front of the pack, egging the hounds to chase him down. As anticipated, Roberts and Walton battled the entire first loop within mere seconds of each other, swapping positions back and forth.
Austin Walton finished a close second overall.
They came into the pits with only seven seconds between them, while JCR Honda Racing’s Preston Campbell was in fourth place, less than 10 seconds behind.
Having raced this location many times before, Roberts had a plan going into the day. “I was a little far back in the sand dunes; they scare me a bit, to be honest, and those guys [Dalton and Austin] were going fast. But from the get-go, I knew my plan was to push pretty hard in the middle of the race, so once I hit the alternate pit out there, that was when I decided to start really pushing.”
Pro podium.
Loop two was considerably shorter, 32 miles in comparison to the previous 56. In a dramatic turn of events within only a few miles from the finish, Shirey went down, offering Roberts the opportunity to make the pass and take the win. Witnessing the crash, Zane stopped to be sure help was coming before finishing on to the checkers.
“Just coming into these whoops here at the end, I’m thinking, ‘Oh man, we’re pushing so hard trying to close this thing out,’ and unfortunately, that’s when he went down; it was a scary one to see,” Roberts said. “I was just coming over a blind ridge when he went down, so I didn’t really see it, but I was there 10-15 seconds after he went down, so I stopped, and there were people running over the hill. I figured at that point it was best to get in here [finish] and try to get everyone [Husqvarna team] out there. Nice to get the win but really unfortunate for that to happen.”
Aussie Sam Pretscherer took the 250cc-class win to extend his points lead.
Unfortunately, Shirey suffered multiple injuries, including broken ribs and punctured lungs, but it appears he’ll make a full recovery.
The second- and third-placed riders cruised in within a minute of each other, with Walton taking the second-place position and Campbell rounding out the podium with his third-place finish.
The Pro class is not the only one that had a close points gap going into round three. The Pro Women’s class had just one point separating first from second place, with returning champion InnTeck racer Rachel Stout pulling away from the pack in first. Ty Woolslayer was sitting a single point down from Factory Beta Racing’s Britney Gallegos but felt very confident coming into the weekend.
Pro 2 Podium.
“I live 45 minutes away from here, so this is basically my backyard.” Woolslayer said, “I was behind Rachel for the first few miles and was able to make a pass, and from there, I didn’t see anybody else in my class for the rest of the time. I had a few tip-overs but nothing major. It was a pretty clean day overall.”
Sneaking past Stout mid-loop one and holding on to her second place all the way to the finish was a newcomer to NHHA, Meg Griffiths, who surprised everyone, including herself, when she managed another second-place finish in her first-ever hare & hound at the last round in Idaho. Griffiths had some suspension issues causing her front end to chatter, so she was fighting that the entire 100 miles at the last race and was happy to have fixed that problem coming into round three. “I got the bike way more dialed for this round, so it was way safer; I kept the rubber side down and just rode my best throughout the whole race.”
Ty Woolslayer topped the Women’s Pro class.
Even though she admittedly did not have her best race, Stout remained strong and kept pushing hard, earning her the final step on the Pro Women’s podium, holding onto her lead in the championship points standings.
Pro 250s have been led all year by the Australian Husqvarna factory-supported racer Sam Pretscherer, who has taken the class by storm, having topped the box in all three rounds of NHHA, including Cherry Creek, thus far. Even more impressive is that Pretscherer had just gotten back from a short trip home the day prior to racing. With his body still on Aussie time, he traversed the sagebrush flats and juniper-covered hills as if he’d never left the desert.
Women’s podium.
“I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the snow; it was cold and kind of sucked,” he said. “It wasn’t too bad; it was just cold, really. Still, it was pretty awesome being able to ride through the snow.”
Finishing a very close second was DC Kawasaki Racing’s Chance Fullerton, who’s had a difficult start to his season but was understandably thrilled to be able to put it all together this round.
A Utah local, McQuin Hair took the final step in the Pro 250 class, bringing with him a whole fan club to cheer him on and a lot of smiles the whole way to the podium. The next Hare & Hound Nation will be back in Jericho, Utah, in two weeks.
Mary Rinnel
OVERALL RESULTS (Top 10)
- Zane Roberts (Bet)
- Austin Walton (Hus)
- Preston Campbell (Hon)
- Joseph Wassen (Bet)
- Sam Pretscherer (Hus)
- Chance Fullerton (Kaw)
- Daemon Woolslayer (Yam)
- Jason Harris (Hus)
- McQuin Hair (KTM)
- DJ Weber (KTM)
