Cycle News

OFF-ROAD 2019 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ATV-MC WORCS SERIES ROUND 1 / JANUARY 20, 2019 BUFFALO BILL'S RESORT & CASINO / PRIMM, NEVADA P66 lot of time, but several other riders also ran out of gas. So I pushed to get past Redondi and then tried to catch Blayne. It was definitely an exciting race for me. I love the competition in the Pro class. It's awesome to be pushed by everyone else." Redondi was proudly displaying his number-one plate on his KTM, but he won't be here all season to defend it. He is running the first two WORCS races as part of his training program before heading back to Europe to compete there. Though he was a frontrunner for the first few laps, his lack of training began to show and he faded to fifth at the finish. "I didn't train too much this winter and it showed today," said Redondi. "I was running great at the beginning, but I got really bad arm pump, so I just tried to finish. Fifth is fine, so we'll be more prepared for the next race. I am going to Europe after Glen Helen, so my preparation started in January." Former champ Gary Sutherlin struggled all weekend on his KTM. Like Oliveira, he ran out of fuel five laps into the event losing the lead to Robert. From there he dogged Robert before his hands gave out and he settled for second. "We had a good battle for about an hour, but then my hands just blew apart and I just couldn't hang on," said Bell. "The first round is done with and I got a second, so that's a good starting point. I know what I need to do to beat him and I can do it. I just need to put everything together." Thompson, Bell's teammate, also had a good start, but he went off track on the first lap. While several riders in front of him ran out of fuel, Thompson had his lines dialed in and was quickly making up time. He finished third, handing Kawasaki two out of three spots on the podium. "It took me a little time to get warmed up and get my lines in," said Thompson. "Once I got it figured out, I was passing everybody. Third is a good way to start the year. We're third in points and usually I throw it away in the first round, so we're in good shape. I broke my foot at the end of 2017 and we had to push through it. We're coming into this year 100% and it's great." Oliveira ran out of fuel on the back section of the course. He had to go back to the pits to refuel and then restarted where he left the track. Luckily for him several other riders in the top 10 also ran out of fuel, and his hard charge from there put him fourth at the finish. "I was feeling awesome, but on lap five my bike started to run out of gas on one of the back straights," said Oliveira. "I got on the road, went to the van, and got gas. Once I got back to the same spot, I had lost a Blayne Thompson rounded out the top three.

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