VOL. 56 ISSUE 21 MAY 28, 2019 P33
safe and rode it to the finish line.
I'm looking forward to a break to
get my body healed up and get
going again."
Dante Oliveira (KTM) in-
creased his streak of consecu-
tive podiums to five here, and
he remains the only rider still
within a competitive distance of
Robert's points lead. He ran third
the entire race. Oliveira crossed
the finish approximately a minute
behind Bell.
"The track was gnarly, and I
am beat," Oliveira said. "Half of
the track was all silt ruts, and you
just had to pick a line and hope
to make it through cleanly."
Dalton Shirey (Husqvarna) held
down fifth place for the first half
of the race before getting around
Andrew Short (Husqvarna). From
there, Shirey steadily pulled away
from Short and took fourth, leav-
ing Short to collect fifth.
Honda rider Ricky Dietrich
took sixth.
In Pro 2, Clay Hengeveld
(Precision Concepts/Kawasaki
Team Green) scored his second
victory of the season. He made
a last-lap charge past Tallon La-
fountaine to score the win.
Lafountaine (Honda) held on
to second just ahead of Austin
Serpa (KTM).
"I've had a few ups and downs
this year; I won the first round,
and I had a couple seconds, so
it feels good to be back," said
Hengeveld. "Lafountaine had to
pit on the second-to-last lap, and
I caught him. So I put my charge
on, passed him, and I pulled
away."
Lafountaine had to make two
stops due to the smaller fuel
tank. Leading the entire race and
a crash two laps from the finish
took their toll on Lafountaine, and
he admitted he was getting tired
on the final lap.
"It was so easy to make big
mistakes, and the bumps took
it right out of me," said La-
fountaine. "Pitting twice really
screwed up my rhythm. I had a
Zach Bell led the early
portions of the race but
couldn't hold off Robert.
