2020 AMA National Hare and Hound Championship season gets underway Saturday

Nation’s best desert racers kick off nine-round series at Lucerne Valley

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The United States’ best desert racers converge on Lucerne Valley, Calif., this weekend for the first round of the 2020 AMA National Hare and Hound Championship.

The event is put on by the Desert MC and is the first of the series’ nine races scheduled to take place in five states.

“The AMA National Hare and Hound Championship has a long history of producing great competition over challenging desert terrain,” AMA Off-Road Racing Manager Erek Kudla said. “Hall of Famer Kurt Caselli and 2020 Dakar champion Ricky Brabec are among those who have won overall AMA National Hare and Hound titles. We’re excited to see this year’s field crowded on the starting line for the first race of 2020 and look forward to another year of close competition.”

Hare and hound racing, popular in the Western desert regions, challenges riders to compete over a natural terrain course at least 40 miles long while passing through a series of checkpoints. Most courses are 70 to 120 miles long and feature two loops that are routed through different types of terrain. Similar to enduros in course length, hare and hound events feature mass starts and are point-to-point races.

2020 AMA National Hare and Hound Championship Schedule

Jan. 25-26: Lucerne Valley, Calif.
Feb. 22-23: Post, Texas
March 6-7: The Mint 400, Las Vegas, Nev.
March 21-22: Murphy, Idaho
April 4: Jericho, Utah
April 18: Jericho, Utah
Aug. 22: Panaca, Nev.
Oct. 10-11: Nightingale, Nev.
Oct. 24-25: Lucerne Valley, Calif.