2025 Check Chase Hare & Hound Results

Mark Kariya | January 6, 2025

Unless you’re discussing the ruins of Pompeii, the lifespan of a California Redwood, or something like the history of aviation, 75 years is a pretty long time—and more so when talking about how long any particular race has been around. But the Check Chase has been a staple in Southern California’s AMA District 37 since 1950, so at its 75th edition, it certainly qualifies as one of the oldest races in the USA, much less one of the oldest desert races.

Dalton Shirey at 2025 Check Chase Hare & Hound — After recovering from a poor start, Dalton Shirey tuned up for the AMA National Hare & Hound series by winning much of the $10,000 Check Chase purse, becoming only the second Checkers MC member to win a Check Chase race.

Photos by Mark Kariya

Put on by the Checkers Motorcycle Club (among the oldest AMA-chartered clubs in District 37, if not the country, having been formed shortly after World War II), the Check Chase has taken on several forms since its inception, which practically coincided with the club’s genesis. It’s been what was called a field meet; it’s been a 225-mile point-to-point race ending in Parker, Arizona; and it’s been in its current form as a multi-loop hare and hound.

For the 75th annual Check Chase World Championship Hare & Hound, Presented by Fasthouse and FMF, the Checkers started planning last year. Not only did they design a three-loop race (with loops of 40, 40 and 20 miles for a true 100-miler like the old days), they also had a CARB-approved “smoke” bomb and a single-row mass start—Pros, Experts, Amateurs and Novices all starting at the same time!

Based out of the same Means Dry Lake that’s the central point of the upcoming King of the Hammers event later this month, finding challenging trails would not be a problem. And only the Experts and Pros would tackle the final 20 miles, much of it in Hammers canyons.

Preston Campbell at 2025 Check Chase — Though he trails Chance Fullerton here toward the end of loop one, Preston Campbell made the pass for the lead shortly after and led until falling on loop three, though he kept it going to claim second.

While single-row mass starts used to be the norm in District 37 (remember the helicopter view of several thousand riders on the line for Barstow-to-Vegas in On Any Sunday?), those haven’t been in general use since the early 1970s. Even 60-year-old District 37 legend Paul Krause, who started desert racing in 1973, couldn’t recall doing one. “I was trying to think about that yesterday. I think my first race, I was 7 or 8 years old, and I did a Spoke Benders hare and hound. We had three rows—Expert, Amateur, Novice. I don’t know when they did the last one-wave start. This is the first time I’ve ever done it.”

He admitted, “I was bummed—I didn’t want to do it. More people means more opportunity for dust, right? I think if I [were] 30 years younger, I wouldn’t have cared because I would’ve just pinned it and not worried about it. I don’t think there’s any reason for [doing it beyond the nostalgia]. It was cool to do it, I guess, because now I can say I’ve done it.”

Chance Fullerton at 2025 Check Chase — **Chance Fullerton holds a slim lead over Preston Campbell a few miles from the end of loop one. He’d earn third at the finish.**

Unofficially, the Air Cleaning Technologies KTM rider, Krause, also earned part of the $10,000 purse for being the first two-loop finisher. The first one-loop finisher was Wyatt Carlson on his Super Mini.

Obviously, none of his younger competitors had experience with a mass start either, but as Krause noted, they pinned it regardless of the dust.

Dallas Chidester (DC) Racing Kawasaki’s Chance Fullerton still doesn’t fully appreciate a mass start since he got the holeshot to the bomb with a flawless run aboard his Pirelli/Maxima/FXR-backed KX450, despite having to change his spot on the starting line at the last minute.

He said, “About halfway down the bomb [and leading], I was thinking, ‘Can’t really beat that!’ I got to the end of the bomb, and I couldn’t believe it. I’d never ridden that line, and I just kind of held it on, and everything worked out.”

Fullerton led until just before the end of the first loop when Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda’s Preston Campbell snuck by. The VP Racing Fuels/Pro Circuit/Fly Racing CRF450RX-mounted rider led the entire, more technical, second loop, but the third loop proved his undoing.

2025 Check Chase Hare & Hound — Checkers stalwart Trevor Hoffman had the top 10 line up just like they used to do after races back in the day. First through 10th were (L-R) Dalton Shirey, Preston Campbell, Chance Fullerton, Colton Aeck, Nolan Cate, Giacomo Redondi, Ryan Smith, Trevor Hunter, Nic Colangeli and Chayton Gardner.

“I knew it was going to be a difficult third loop,” Campbell said. “I just tried to stay calm, and I made a mistake, clipped a rock, and the bike just stopped. I hit the ground. I was okay, but I let Dalton catch me. It was super-technical where I crashed, and I was a little rattled and couldn’t keep him behind me. But, overall, it was a super-fun course and a good day.”

The Dalton he spoke of was Dalton Shirey, the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-Road Team rider getting some seat time before NGPC and the National Hare & Hound series starts in a few weeks. After a poor start, he had his work cut out.

“I had a horrible start—horrible!” Shirey said. “But I stayed calm, worked my way out of the dust, and just kept picking people off. I caught Preston on loop three. It was a super-rocky one, and I started floundering around like a fish, but I saw Preston getting closer to me while I was doing that. I’m like, ‘I’ve just got to keep it together and don’t hit the ground!’

“And when I said that, I crashed two times! In the matter of a hundred feet: Boom! Boom! The second time picking myself up, Preston hit the ground, too.”

Shirey thus became the second member of the Checkers to win a Check Chase, the first being Bob Fero, who won in 1970, shortly after returning from Vietnam, according to Checkers President Trevor Hoffman.

Campbell held on for a strong second, followed by Fullerton, Hatch Racing Kawasaki’s Colton Aeck (first 250), JCR Honda-supported Nolan Cate, Giacomo Redondi (in his first race aboard a stock Pro Circuit/Precision Coating Kawasaki KX450), 3 Bros. Husqvarna-mounted Ryan Smith, early front-runner Trevor Hunter (on a basically stock DirtBikeTest.com GasGas 300), defending D-37 champ Nic Colangeli, and KTM 250 XC-mounted Chayton Gardner.