RACE REPORT: 2016 NHHA #1 | Lucerne

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ATV/MC, PRECISION CONCEPTS, MAXXIS RACING’S JUSTIN MORGAN GETS OFF TO A GOOD START AT THE NHHA SERIES OPENER.

Lucerne Valley, CA (January 24th, 2016) –

The 2016 National Hare and Hound series kicked off in the well known Lucerne Valley desert, where a fast race course greeted the riders. “I was little more high speed than I expected, you came up on stuff really fast,” said Rocky Mountain ATV/MC, Precision Concepts, Maxxis Racing’s Justin Morgan, “there was some virgin terrain [on the first loop], which was really cool.” The format was a little different than the standard Hare and Hound in that the pro racers would start on the more technical loop, then finish on the higher speed second loop, while the beginners and novices would go straight out to the faster loop. “You could look at that in two different ways. It kept everybody closer together at the beginning of the race, so the guy that got the holeshot wasn’t just gone, making a bunch of dust [on a traditionally faster first loop]. The other side is that we were catching the slower riders on the faster, second loop, coming up on them really fast when they’re going three gears slower than we are, so that was little scary at times.” When asked if he had a preference on the race procedure Justin said, “I honestly don’t have a preference, I actually wish the whole race was tighter, because that’s where I did all of my passing, and that’s where a lot of the action takes place.”

Justin did have to make a few passes, as he didn’t get off to the best start and reached the bomb toward the tale end of the teens. “I took a bit of a gamble and started far left, where most of the guys started far right, but a couple guys snuck into my line ahead of me so I had to battle through the dust all the way to the bomb.” Morgan was able to get up into the top ten pretty quickly, and as the first loop wound down, he had caught up to Ivan Ramirez and Skyler Howes, who were running sixth and seventh. “I followed them for a while, but once I was able to make one pass, I got the next one really quick too, which was pretty cool.”

The second loop was pretty straightforward for Justin, as the high-speed conditions made it difficult to make up anymore time on the riders ahead, and he came across the line to take sixth place on the day. “I’m happy with the way the bike worked, and how I rode. I really just can’t wait for the next round. I want to get a better start and prove what I can do.”

Justin will be back in action, and back in Lucerne, next weekend as he attends the brutal and challenging King of the Motos on January 30th.

Results

Gallery

courtesy of Mark Kariya