Lucerne Valley, CA (10/20/2011)
- Veteran Duncan Racing rider Andy Lagzdins
scored the overall quad victory at Round Seven
of the National Hare and Hound Series that took
place in the Johnson Valley OHV area near Lucerne
Valley, Ca, and in doing so clinched the 2011Pro
ATV Championship with one round remaining.
The event, which was put on by the AMA District
37 club SoCal MC, was
laid out over 38 miles of some of the most challenging
terrain in the
California desert. The race began with a dead
engine start and a mile-long
bomb run across the desert. "I picked a
bad line on the start and Kyle
Penner and Bill Markel got in front and dusted
me out bad. It wasn't until
we got into the tight rock sections that I could
see enough to make a move
on those guys" said Lagzdins after the
race. "The last thing I wanted to do
was break the quad by hitting something in the
dust, and not score any
points." After making a pass for the lead
on Penner at roughly the halfway
point of the race, Lagzdins made no mistakes
and opened a minute gap at the
finish on his Fat Boy 4 powered Honda.
Lagzdins, a veteran of the East Coast-based
GNCC Series, now adds the
2011 AMA National Hare and Hound Series to his
2007 OMA National Pro ATV
title and 2009 Score Baja Overall ATV Championship.
"I can't thank everyone
enough who stood by me when I made the move
to the West Coast. It took some
time to learn how desert racing is done-the
mental game of racing at high
speed through unknown terrain, but it's coming
easier to me now," said
Lagzdins.
The series concludes on October 23rd with
the 100's MC National also
taking place in the Johnson Valley OHV area.
This 189,000 acre BLM-regulated
portion of the desert is currently in danger
of being converted from a
public recreation area to a live ammunition
testing ground, an issue that
the American Motorcyclist Association is aggressively
fighting.