After recovering from a mid-pack start, Russell Pearson blazed to the front and won going away to easily seal his third career series championship.

Destry Abbott ran his number one plate for the last time in 2009. After grabbing the lead off the start, he couldn't hold off Pearson and finished second for the day and the season.

Russell Pearson went into the eighth and final round of the AMA Racing National Hare & Hound Championship Series outside of Lucerne Valley, California, as the favorite, a different situation than when the series started back in January.
At that time, he didn’t even have a new bike or plans to ride the series, but Chris Blais convinced him to at least come out to ride one of his bikes at the first round.

The result? He won.

So he followed that up by riding his well-used 2007 KTM 450 SX, but it didn’t quite make it to the finish, the engine expiring within a few miles of the finish while leading.

That led to KTM offering him some assistance, though it was more of a dealer support ride-and-bonus program than a full factory deal. It would be the shrewdest move KTM made all year.

Pearson still didn’t have firm plans to ride the series, instead taking it race by race, and he rewarded KTM’s faith by returning finishes of third, first and fourth (which would be his worst finish after that round two DNF) before the traditional summer break.

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The early season points leader and winner of two rounds, David Kamo finished third for the day and the season.

When he studied the points and found himself in contention, Pearson decided to go ahead and finish out the season with a concerted effort to secure his third series championship.

“Before that, it was just race by race, just try to win races,” he said. “I mean, our goal was to win a championship—always—but I didn’t want so much pressure this year. Before, it was my livelihood. You win a championship and you can eat steak sometimes instead of Top Ramen!”

After the break, he became unbeatable, winning in Nevada and Utah to set up a showdown at the finale. It boiled down to this: If Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Destry Abbott, the defending series champion and his most formidable challenger, won the last race—the 42nd Annual Johnson Valley Championship put on by the 100s Motorcycle Club—then Pearson needed to finish fourth or better to earn the title for a third time. Early points leader David Kamo of the Shock Doctor KTM team also remained in contention mathematically.

But even after Abbott rocketed to the lead with a perfect start on his KX450F and Pearson had a poor jump off the line, Pearson knew he simply needed to stay calm and pick off those in front by riding smart. So, he stuck to the trail while those in front sought to escape the wall of dust by veering off the trail—and into rock gardens that proved slower than the trail in most cases.

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The finale reflected former series champ David Pearson's season. While in contention for the lead, he fell and broke a radiator, ending his day prematurely.

So Pearson steadily moved up through the pack until he saw his cousin, Shock Doctor KTM’s David Pearson, following just behind Abbott. On the third of four innovative loops the 100s laid out around Anderson Dry Lake, Russell Pearson sped by both of them in a move that had Abbott shaking his head later: “I’m not making excuses. I just was not riding good today. The next thing I know, Russ went by me and he was a gear higher than I was.”

That effectively sealed the deal with Pearson going on to win decisively over Abbott and Kamo. David Pearson ended up damaging a radiator in a crash and couldn’t finish. Johnny Campbell Racing Honda’s Quinn Cody bounced back from a mediocre start for fourth followed by Zip-Ty Racing Husqvarna’s Nick Burson. Unofficially, Pearson earned the championship with Abbott second and Kamo third.

The victory provided Pearson with a different yet still very satisfying third series championship, one he earned as a privateer.

“This one was special just because we kind of did it as a family—the Pearsons did it,” he said. “We didn’t have all the support [you’d think]. My parts, I had to pay for them out of my pocketbook and my wife wasn’t too happy about it, so I tried not to tell her how much things were.”

But he’ll probably be able to afford a steak now and then, as well as plan for their first child due in April, something that might keep him from making a strong run to defend his title.

From left to right: third-place David Kamo, winner Russell Pearson and runner-up Destry Abbott.

Results
1. Russell Pearson (KTM 450 XC-F)

2. Destry Abbott (Kawasaki KX450F)

3. David Kamo (KTM 530 XC-W)

4. Quinn Cody (Honda CRF450X)

5. Nick Burson (Husqvarna TC450)

6. Ty Davis (Husqvarna WR300)

7. Justin Morrow (Kawasaki KX250)

8. Morgan Crawford (KTM 530 XC-W)

9. Ryan Kudla (Kawasaki KX450F)

10. Brett Saunders (Kawasaki KX450F)