Ricky Brabec

Titan1 wrote:

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other...

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other riders...there is almost an infinite number of things that can go wrong at those speeds, over that terrain, for those distances. From mechanicals, to getting lost, to rider fatigue, to animals/people/trucks/atv's on course...not to mention crashes...which at the speeds they ride aren't pretty.

Brabec is a special talent...and in my limited experience with a really good guy. I hope he sticks to his roots and stays with the NHHA and defends this championship and the many others he'll certainly win if he stays with it.

(Of topic, but I hope with Honda, and Yamaha coming out with off-road race bikes that the NHHA will see some more factory support...right now its KTM, Husky, and JCR Honda-with one rider each...it would be great to see those manufacturers expand their foot print, and have Kawi and Yamaha put step in the ring...NHHA is a great and historic series...Eric Kudla has done wonders for it the past few years...I just want to see it grow.)

Titan1 wrote:

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other...

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other riders...there is almost an infinite number of things that can go wrong at those speeds, over that terrain, for those distances. From mechanicals, to getting lost, to rider fatigue, to animals/people/trucks/atv's on course...not to mention crashes...which at the speeds they ride aren't pretty.

Brabec is a special talent...and in my limited experience with a really good guy. I hope he sticks to his roots and stays with the NHHA and defends this championship and the many others he'll certainly win if he stays with it.

(Of topic, but I hope with Honda, and Yamaha coming out with off-road race bikes that the NHHA will see some more factory support...right now its KTM, Husky, and JCR Honda-with one rider each...it would be great to see those manufacturers expand their foot print, and have Kawi and Yamaha put step in the ring...NHHA is a great and historic series...Eric Kudla has done wonders for it the past few years...I just want to see it grow.)

agn5009 wrote:

The reason it won't grow is because the races only take place in 3 or 4 different states. It's hard to justify it as a serious...

The reason it won't grow is because the races only take place in 3 or 4 different states. It's hard to justify it as a serious "national" title when it only takes place on the west coast. I agree, they look awesome and these dudes are seriously bad asses but the series needs to expand if they want to grow. And before anyone asks, yes I feel the same about the GNCC series. I wish there was one legitimate harescramble series that runs all around the coubtry like the AMA MX series.

Titan1 wrote:

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other...

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other riders...there is almost an infinite number of things that can go wrong at those speeds, over that terrain, for those distances. From mechanicals, to getting lost, to rider fatigue, to animals/people/trucks/atv's on course...not to mention crashes...which at the speeds they ride aren't pretty.

Brabec is a special talent...and in my limited experience with a really good guy. I hope he sticks to his roots and stays with the NHHA and defends this championship and the many others he'll certainly win if he stays with it.

(Of topic, but I hope with Honda, and Yamaha coming out with off-road race bikes that the NHHA will see some more factory support...right now its KTM, Husky, and JCR Honda-with one rider each...it would be great to see those manufacturers expand their foot print, and have Kawi and Yamaha put step in the ring...NHHA is a great and historic series...Eric Kudla has done wonders for it the past few years...I just want to see it grow.)

Titan1 wrote:

I hear ya man...the problem is that when you are trying to put together a 100+ mile race without touching the same trail twice (which is...

I hear ya man...the problem is that when you are trying to put together a 100+ mile race without touching the same trail twice (which is what it has to be to be a Hare and Hound...hare scrambles can run a 20 mile loop 5 times, hare and hounds are "point to point" races) it has to be in the West...so it will never been an East Coast series (to many trees in the East Coast, and not enough public land). You're right, and that may very well be its down fall...but its a desert, point to point series...and the deserts and the wide open spaces are in the West.

It would be great if it could add some rounds in other states (outside of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Idaho)...Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, Montana (which would cover the entire West)...but these races are put on by Motorcycle Clubs...the clubs work with the government agencies and landowners, mark the courses, and man the races...so there has to be clubs that are big enough and organized enough to pull that off in the state that they want to race...and then when the course is 100+ miles long, you've got to deal with the BLM (often multiple field offices...which aren't ran the same), State land, and private property...it gets difficult to find agencies willing to issue the permits and work with clubs that put on the races, land owners willing to allow a race to happen on their property, etc. So it's an uphill battle...I'm not saying its not worth it...but its hard.

Titan1 wrote:

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other...

I wish more people could appreciate just how big of an accomplishment this is...winning that title is incredibly difficult, and not just because of the other riders...there is almost an infinite number of things that can go wrong at those speeds, over that terrain, for those distances. From mechanicals, to getting lost, to rider fatigue, to animals/people/trucks/atv's on course...not to mention crashes...which at the speeds they ride aren't pretty.

Brabec is a special talent...and in my limited experience with a really good guy. I hope he sticks to his roots and stays with the NHHA and defends this championship and the many others he'll certainly win if he stays with it.

(Of topic, but I hope with Honda, and Yamaha coming out with off-road race bikes that the NHHA will see some more factory support...right now its KTM, Husky, and JCR Honda-with one rider each...it would be great to see those manufacturers expand their foot print, and have Kawi and Yamaha put step in the ring...NHHA is a great and historic series...Eric Kudla has done wonders for it the past few years...I just want to see it grow.)

agn5009 wrote:

The reason it won't grow is because the races only take place in 3 or 4 different states. It's hard to justify it as a serious...

The reason it won't grow is because the races only take place in 3 or 4 different states. It's hard to justify it as a serious "national" title when it only takes place on the west coast. I agree, they look awesome and these dudes are seriously bad asses but the series needs to expand if they want to grow. And before anyone asks, yes I feel the same about the GNCC series. I wish there was one legitimate harescramble series that runs all around the coubtry like the AMA MX series.

Titan1 wrote:

I hear ya man...the problem is that when you are trying to put together a 100+ mile race without touching the same trail twice (which is...

I hear ya man...the problem is that when you are trying to put together a 100+ mile race without touching the same trail twice (which is what it has to be to be a Hare and Hound...hare scrambles can run a 20 mile loop 5 times, hare and hounds are "point to point" races) it has to be in the West...so it will never been an East Coast series (to many trees in the East Coast, and not enough public land). You're right, and that may very well be its down fall...but its a desert, point to point series...and the deserts and the wide open spaces are in the West.

It would be great if it could add some rounds in other states (outside of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Idaho)...Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, Montana (which would cover the entire West)...but these races are put on by Motorcycle Clubs...the clubs work with the government agencies and landowners, mark the courses, and man the races...so there has to be clubs that are big enough and organized enough to pull that off in the state that they want to race...and then when the course is 100+ miles long, you've got to deal with the BLM (often multiple field offices...which aren't ran the same), State land, and private property...it gets difficult to find agencies willing to issue the permits and work with clubs that put on the races, land owners willing to allow a race to happen on their property, etc. So it's an uphill battle...I'm not saying its not worth it...but its hard.

agn5009 wrote:

The reason it won't grow is because the races only take place in 3 or 4 different states. It's hard to justify it as a serious...

The reason it won't grow is because the races only take place in 3 or 4 different states. It's hard to justify it as a serious "national" title when it only takes place on the west coast. I agree, they look awesome and these dudes are seriously bad asses but the series needs to expand if they want to grow. And before anyone asks, yes I feel the same about the GNCC series. I wish there was one legitimate harescramble series that runs all around the coubtry like the AMA MX series.

Titan1 wrote:

I hear ya man...the problem is that when you are trying to put together a 100+ mile race without touching the same trail twice (which is...

I hear ya man...the problem is that when you are trying to put together a 100+ mile race without touching the same trail twice (which is what it has to be to be a Hare and Hound...hare scrambles can run a 20 mile loop 5 times, hare and hounds are "point to point" races) it has to be in the West...so it will never been an East Coast series (to many trees in the East Coast, and not enough public land). You're right, and that may very well be its down fall...but its a desert, point to point series...and the deserts and the wide open spaces are in the West.

It would be great if it could add some rounds in other states (outside of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Idaho)...Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, Montana (which would cover the entire West)...but these races are put on by Motorcycle Clubs...the clubs work with the government agencies and landowners, mark the courses, and man the races...so there has to be clubs that are big enough and organized enough to pull that off in the state that they want to race...and then when the course is 100+ miles long, you've got to deal with the BLM (often multiple field offices...which aren't ran the same), State land, and private property...it gets difficult to find agencies willing to issue the permits and work with clubs that put on the races, land owners willing to allow a race to happen on their property, etc. So it's an uphill battle...I'm not saying its not worth it...but its hard.

agn5009 wrote:

I definitely agree with everything you've said. To add to it, it's a tough sport to follow for fans. Due to lack of TV coverage, lack...

I definitely agree with everything you've said. To add to it, it's a tough sport to follow for fans. Due to lack of TV coverage, lack of visibility during the races, the number of harescramble series (I consider Hare & Hound, GNCC, enduro series etc essentially "harescrambles" ), lack of sponsorships available etc all mitigating factors. I realize all of these series basically have different layouts but they're all essentially woods races. Back when I was racing a lot I would run GNCC's, AWRCS, district 5, PA state championship series, CRA, ECEA series etc and we would typically have 15 or so guys in the "A" or pro class (I didn't run pro in the GNCC series, I ran "A" there.) A lot of times it was nothing to see 300-500 total riders signed up in the GNCC afternoon and AWRCS races. These days I would be willing to bet it's cut in half.

I guess I'm just going off on a rant here, but I love this sport. I hate seeing it die down. I would absolutely love to see the top eastern series guys face off against the western. It would be so cool to see the top 10 from each national offroad series go head to head.

Anyways, congrats to Ricky Brabec. I've never seen him ride in person, as I'm on the east coast but from the videos and the championship hes obviously an amazing rider.