Though his year of wearing the number one plate in the AMA Racing/Kenda National Hare & Hound Championship Series didn’t start well for Kendall Norman, he finished with flourish. Since his return from knee injury to ride the final four rounds of the series, the Johnny Campbell Racing Honda standout has been a regular atop the podium, and it was no different at the 100s Motorcycle Club’s Long Way Home/44th Annual Johnson Valley Championship, the ninth and final event of the series. Just as he’d done at the previous round, Norman led from start to finish for his third win of the season, though it wasn’t without incident.
 
Previous 2011 Hare & Hound Races:

Round 8

Round 7

Round 6

“I rode pretty aggressive and ended up crashing coming into the pits the first [of four loops],” he said. But that was about the only mistake he made. Though he lost a little time, he had enough of a lead to stay well ahead of Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Destry Abbott, who, like last round, had his hands full holding off Kawasaki of Simi Valley’s Jacob Argubright all day.
 

The 100s laid out a four-loop race--20, 20, 40 and 10 miles in length--giving spectators and pit personnel more viewing opportunities than normal. But the only view Norman provided for his competition was a cloud of dust. His little spill at the end of the first loop allowed Abbott to draw to within seven seconds, but after that, the Honda racer pulled away--he had a minute and six seconds after two loops, 2:15 after the third and 2:57 at the finish.
 
“I just rode my own race and had a lot of fun,” Norman declared. Since he missed three rounds, DNFed the first and thus had no hope of defending his championship, Norman rode simply for pride. “I just came out here to have fun, ride my hardest and do the very best I can. I just had a lot of fun today and that’s what I did.”
 
In what will probably be his final full season of racing, Abbott again demonstrated plenty of the speed that’s taken him to a record-tying five championships (equaling legends Danny Hamel and Dan Smith). He actually beat Norman off the line, but his line after the bomb proved a little longer and put him into second, which is where he stayed for the remaining 89 miles.
 
“I settled into second and it’s such a dusty day, I said, ‘All right, settle down.’ The first loop, I wasn’t too far behind him,” Abbott said. “The second loop, he put a little bit of time [on me]. Then the third, 40-mile loop he was railing across those valleys. I felt good, my bike was awesome--I just didn’t have anything for the win today.
 
“It was a good way to finish the year out. I think I just missed out on second overall [in the series] by a point or two. I had fun; it was a good year.”
 

With Halloween approaching, Argubright added a short, green cape to his chest protector and dubbed himself “Super Jake.” However, it didn’t give him super powers and he once again couldn’t find a way past the more experienced Abbott, though it didn’t help that he hadn’t ridden since the last National two weeks ago because his smashed foot turned out to be a broken foot.
 
“I don’t know; I just wasn’t riding great, then I went down,” he related. “I slid out and it woke me up and I got on it. Then I caught up to Destry and went over the handlebars. After that, I just cruised.”
 
Purvines Racing Honda’s David Pearson ended up fourth after another slow start and having to work his way through the dust. But that was enough to maintain second in the final series points over Abbott, 193-192, unofficially.
 
JCR Honda’s David Kamo was another of the many who suffered from a poor start and it took him a long time to break through that wall, eventually finishing nearly eight minutes behind Pearson for fifth place, his best result of the season.
 
With Kurt Caselli skipping the finale due to wrapping up the title at round eight and getting beat up in a crash at the WORCS race last week, Mexico’s Ivan Ramirez got the chance to race the KTM factory machine and put it to good use. Despite a bad start, he found himself constantly amazed at how hard he could charge with works suspension and power, and he finished a best-to-date sixth to take the Open A win for the day.
 
Purvines Racing Honda’s Justin Morrow, Zip-Ty Racing Husqvarna’s Nick Burson, 250cc A riders Skyler Howes and Ryan Smith rounded out the top 10 overall.

Results
1. Kendall Norman (Honda CRF450X)
2. Destry Abbott (Kawasaki KX450F)
3. Jacob Argubright (Kawasaki KX450F)
4. David Pearson (Honda CRF450X)
5. David Kamo (Honda CRF450X)
6. Ivan Ramirez (KTM 450 SX-F)
7. Justin Morrow (Honda CRF450X)
8. Nick Burson (Husqvarna TXC 449)
9. Skyler Howes (Yamaha YZ250)
10. Ryan Smith (Yamaha YZ250)