VOL. 56 ISSUE 15 APRIL 16, 2019 P39
out there," said Robert. "Dante
was riding really solid. He wasn't
making any mistakes, so I had to
be really creative to get around
him. It was a really cool race;
here in Vegas in front of all of
these fans."
After taking the lead at the
start, Bell (Precision Concepts/
Kawasaki Team Green) lost posi-
tions to both Oliveira and Rob-
ert on the first lap. He passed
Oliveira back late in the race and
then set out to try to catch Rob-
ert before finishing second.
"Dante and I had a good battle
and I made the pass, then I tried
to catch up to Taylor," said Bell.
"Looking back, I was being a
little timid the first few laps with
how slick it was. Then, after that
I started picking up the pace.
I was matching [Taylor's] pace
for a good 10 or 15 minutes and
I was happy about that. Getting
second here is great. I'm learning
and building."
Oliveira continued to wow the
fans with his consistent riding.
After taking third at the start, he
took the lead on the second lap
and then held off several at-
tempts by Robert before losing
the lead. The third-place finish
marked his fourth consecutive
podium.
"On the first lap, I sprinted
really hard," said Oliveira. "I just
tried to hold off Taylor and get
a gap on everyone else. Once
Taylor passed me I tried to pace
him. About halfway through,
Zach caught me, so I just rode
third. I'm pumped."
In Pro 2, Cooper Abbott (KTM)
took his first win of the season.
Tallon LaFountaine was second,
ahead of Austin Serpa. Abbott,
an endurocross veteran, took the
lead in the tricky Pro rock section
and then just held off a charging
LaFountaine for the win.
"My endurocross experience
really came in handy here," said
Abbott. "In endurocross we have
super short laps with lots of
carnage. It was all about slowing
down to go fast and that's what I
did here in the rocks."
While Abbott excelled in the
rocks, LaFountaine (Honda) had
issues. After taking second at
the start, LaFountaine fell back
by nearly 45 seconds before
rebounding late in the race to
nearly catch Abbott at the end.
"I got into second, then I got
into the rocks and I straight up
struggled," said LaFountaine.
"With 20 minutes to go, I got
Cooper Abbott
won the Pro2 class
for the second
time this season.
