Beta USA's Max Gerston finished 3rd in last weekend's AMA WHS (West Hare Scramble) Championship held in Redding, California proving the talented racer from Arizona is a contender for the title. The event had rain before the start which eliminated the dust and greeted riders with almost perfect conditions. Gerston is looking very comfortable on his 390 RR and is currently second in points.
Gerston describes his race, "I had a great time at the Shasta Dam Hare Scramble. There was a lot of different terrain and my Beta 390 was the perfect fit for the job. The course was a 20 mile loop with everything from fast roads with huge water bars to virgin technical single track. It was a little fast for my liking but I still had a blast and ended up with a solid 3rd place finish, Braaap!"
The Beta GNCC team was at round four of the popular series held in Morganton, North Carolina. XC1 racer Jordan Ashburn was in 10th after the first lap and continued to make a charge to the front however with the pace of the top five, Ashburn ran out of time and finished the three hour race in 6th.
Ashburn had this to say, "Steel creek is a super tough track with huge braking bumps and steep hills. I didn't get the best start to the race. I came around the first lap in 10th place. I managed to make some passes over the next few laps and got to 6th. I was able to end the day in 6th place and get some good overall points."
Teammate and XC2 specialist Nick Davis made his GNCC return after his dislocated leg at the opening round. Davis got the holeshot of the XC2 start and ran as high as second in the race however faded to an eventual 8th place at the finish. Not a bad result considering the extent of his injury.
Davis had this to say, ""My Beta 250 RR got me off to an awesome start by grabbing the hole shot. From then on I ran with the lead pack for the first hour and a half then my leg got weak. I started having to sit a lot and hold on really tight with my hands. Which then resulted in my hands blistering very severely. But all in all for being about 70 percent and haven't ridden in weeks I will take the finish that we got. Lets bring on the next one!"
Davis' teammate Drew Higgins also had a decent finish with a solid seventh at the line. Higgins had filled in for Davis, however team coach Rodney Smith was impressed with his performance and made the call to keep him in the series.
Higgins comments, "The race yesterday was held in the mountains of North Carolina, it was a race that I was looking forward to. My race started off good, I was about 6th or 7th heading into the woods. Not too long after entering the woods, I began to get super pumped up from my under gloves. I started to ride really tight and not flowing through any of the bumps and going the speed I needed to go. I dropped back to 9th for the majority of the race, and on the last two laps I made a hard charge and caught 6th. Wishing I could have made the pass, but had to settle for a 7th. My last two laps were my best feeling laps, after I finally got rid of the arm pump and started riding like myself. No excuses, the bike worked awesome. Wishing I would have been able to charge right from the beginning and go with the fast guys. But I know what to do next time for my hands, and I learned a lot today with race strategy and as a team we learned a lot about fuel mileage. My shoulder and back are feeling really good, so I'm ready to get home and get back to riding and get ready for round 5 in South Carolina!"
Max Gerston will race the Glen Helen 2-Stroke World Championships this weekend aboard a special 300 RR set up for moto. The race will be a nice cross trainer for the EnduroX season coming up in August.
Photo by Kato
