second, earning his third
consecutive runner-up
effort.
"I did what I could
today," Bell said. "I made
a few mistakes, but I also
had a few good runs. I just
tried to adapt as well as I
could. It was really slick,
so I had to make sure to
carry more speed. I tried
to find the edge of the
track and get a little bit
faster."
As he has in the first
three rounds, Oliveira
(KTM) again struggled
early in the event but
bounced back during the
second half of the event.
He earned his second
consecutive podium in what is
becoming a real breakout sea-
son for Oliveira.
"I've been struggling early all
year, and I've picked it up on the
second part of the events," said
Oliveira. "I liked the moto test
because the berms were a little
more built up and it was a little
more worn in. The off-road loop
kept me guessing."
In Open A, Cooper Abbott
scored his second victory of the
season. Austin Serpa finished
second. Clayton Hengeveld,
who sat third in points coming
into this race, crashed and suf-
fered a broken leg.
Abbott said the racing sur-
face looked a lot like sand but
didn't behave as such. While the
victory allowed him to pad his
points lead, he was happy just to
make it through.
"It was definitely something
different," said Abbott. "You kind
of think it's like sand, but you
can't really plow into the corners
as you can with sand. Every lap I
stuck to the same lines and tried
to stay smart because it was
scary getting out of those lines
with all of the tree roots."
Serpa was also fooled by the
racing surface early on, but he
quickly caught on to the fact that
high rpms and more speed were
rewarded on the time charts.
The finish, along with Hen-
geveld's crash, moves him into
the top three in points.
"Second place is good, and
I can't ask for much else," said
Serpa. "It looks like it's hard
packed and heavy, but it's really
light, and you just sink into it. I
just tried to put it where it looked
hard packed and stay high in the
rpms."
The AMA Sprint Hero Racing
Series now heads into the sum-
mer break. It returns to action
at MMX Racing in Marysville,
California, August 24-25.
Harlen Foley
OVERALL
1. Taylor Robert (KTM)
2. Zach Bell (Kaw)
3. Dante Oliveira (KTM)
4. Gary Sutherlin (KTM)
5. Andrew Short (Hus)
IN
THE
WIND
P44
Cooper Abbott won the Open A class.
