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Cycle News 2019 Issue 24 June 18

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 24 JUNE 18, 2019 P37 "I kind of tried to keep the fact that I was beating Pat out of my mind. I was pretty nervous, but I felt like I held it together pretty well," said Blanc-Gonnet. Karl Davis Jr. (FactoryONE Scor- pa) finished third with 80 points, 31 points behind Blanc-Gonnet. Disappointed at missing out on his first overall win, Blanc-Gonnet was clearly happy and excited about pushing Smage to the limit. "I'm not the happiest with my riding, but we did the best we could, and I'm happy to be on the podium," said Davis. "When you go into every section kind of nervous about the outcome, it's hard to concentrate." A pair of Pro-class rookies, FactoryONE Sherco's Josh Roper and Alex Myers (Factory- ONE Scorpa), rounded out the top five. Myers finished fourth with 91 points, edging out Roper by just two points. Sunday was more of the same for the top riders, although Smage got off to a much bet- ter start and led the way with a 17-point opening lap and he bettered his scores on each of the final two laps, finishing the three-lap, 36-section event with a total of 33 points. "Early on I wasn't confident in the more dangerous sections, and I was a little bit worried about trying them," said Smage. "I just wasn't quite feeling it early on, but about midway through the first lap I kind of really tried hard to turn that around and started rid- ing like myself again and having Sherco) had two third-place finishes. The series wraps up next weekend in Oregon, where Smage has a chance to clinch a record-breaking 11th U.S. Nation- al MotoTrials Championship title. Shan Moore PRO Saturday 1. Pat Smage (Shr) 45 2. Daniel Blanc-Gonnet (GG) 49 3. Karl Davis Jr. (Sco) 80 4. Alex Myers (Sco) 91 5. Josh Roper (Shr) 93 6. Alex Niederer (GG) 94 7. Sam Fastle (Shr) 105 8. Andreas Niederer (Bet) 133 9. David Avendano (Ver) DNF Sunday 1. Pat Smage (Shr) 33 2. Alex Niederer (GG) 76 3. David Avendano (Ver) 91 4. Daniel Blanc-Gonnet (GG) 92 5. Karl Davis Jr. (Sco) 107 6. Alex Myers (Sco) 112 7. Sam Fastle (Shr) 119 8. Josh Roper (Shr) 134 9. Andreas Niederer (Bet) 140 confidence in the sections and with the bike. There were a few that were on the edge, for sure, and some really difficult ones, but overall I'm happy with the way I turned things around." After finishing seventh overall the previous day, Alex Niederer (GasGas North America) turned in a solid performance to finish second overall behind Smage with a total of 76 points. Third place went to David Avendano (Vertigo USA) with 91 points. The Venezuelan champion DNFed Saturday's event with an electrical problem. One point be- hind Avendano was Blanc-Gon- net, who posted a 92-point day for fourth place in the extremely high scoring event. Davis rounded out Sunday's top five with 107 points. Maddie Hoover (GasGas North America) took a pair of wins in the Wom- en's Pro class, beating former Women's champ Louise Forsley each day, while Kylee Sweeten (FactoryONE/ Daniel Blanc-Gonnet took runner-up honors on Saturday.

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