VOL. 56 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 20, 2019 P43
"What a day it was today!"
Gerston said of his afternoon
aboard his FMF/Kenda/Klim
390 RR. "I started off in the lead
then got lost major and then
dropped way back, but after
that I kind of went crazy and put
on a massive charge and was
able to work my way all the way
back to the front. Oh man, that
was a lot of hard work! But I'm
super, super-stoked; that was a
hard-fought win! All my competi-
tors were on point today so they
didn't make it easy on me. Man,
I'll probably sleep good tonight
because I left it all out there. I
gave it pretty much 100 percent
the whole time."
One of the early leaders, Slam
Life Racing (SLR) Honda's Diet-
rich enjoyed his runner-up ride
aboard his Monster Energy/Lava
Propane/Fly Racing-sponsored
CRF450RX, finishing 28 sec-
onds behind Gerston's winning
two hours, 39 minutes and 37
seconds.
"At the beginning of the race,
I was quite pumped up and felt
pretty terrible," Dietrich admit-
ted. "I had my competitors yell-
ing at me that I was going slow—
that's kind of embarrassing—but
then two laps later, I'm the one
pushing. I takes me a little bit to
kind of get going, I've noticed."
Gerston's sternest challenger
in the last half of the race turned
out to be his Beta teammate
Wasson. Better known for his
hare & hound prowess, the
round-one winner and his Motul/
Twin Air/Scott-backed 430 RR
enjoyed quite the battle in the
chilly conditions reminiscent of
his Idaho roots.
"He got around me in one
section and I was right on his tail
trying to get back around him and
I ended up laying it over," Wasson
explained after finishing 54 sec-
onds behind Dietrich. "I was just
making stupid mistakes, riding
tight and not thinking."
Beta support rider Mason
Ottersberg finished fourth after
a painful crash followed by Ride
Shop Sherco rider Nickolas
Brawner, Gas Gas-mounted
Clayton Gerstner, AZ Dirt Bike
Training KTM's Ryan Wells, Gray
Area KTM's Devin Bolin and
Off-road Support Kawasaki rider
Jacob Argubright. Pro II winner
Zane Roberts (Beta) rounded out
the top 10 overall. Roberts picked
up an additional $250 for 10th as
well as the $500 for winning Pro
II, making it a very suc-
cessful weekend for
the Beta brigade.
Mark Kariya
OVERALL
1. Max Gerston (Bet)
2. Ricky Dietrich (Hon)
3. Joe Wasson (Bet)
4. Mason Ottersberg (Bet)
5. Nickolas Brawner (Shr)
6. Clayton Gerstner (GG)
7. Ryan Wells (KTM)
8. Devin Bolin (KTM)
9. Jacob Argubright (Kaw)
10. Zane Roberts (Bet)
(Left) Max Gerston won the AMA
WHS in Prescott. (Below) Beta's
Zane Roberts took his first Pro II
victory. (Bottim right) Washington
motocrosser Preston Boespflug
decimated the Big Wheel class.
PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
