IN
THE
WIND
P38
bike's where it needs to be—we
just had a little fluke deal."
That opened a window of
opportunity for Argubright, and
once he determined that Was-
son was okay, he sailed past to
reach the pits second. Some
quick work by his pit crew got
the handlebar rotated a bit far
forward, but it was better than
down by the tank so he went
with it. Argubright said, "When
I left [the pit], I said, All right,
here we go. New loop and I'm
going to do my best."
Shortly after leaving the pit,
Shirey reportedly had a major
issue with the foam insert in his
rear tire, forcing him to return
to the pit to get it fixed. He
eventually rejoined the race and
finished a creditable ninth Pro,
11th overall.
"After that, I was in the lead,"
Argubright said. "Nick kind of
paced me a little bit here and
there, and I just rode smart and
I pushed a little bit and that was
it."
For Precision Concepts/
Berkeley Yamaha/O'Neal
YZ450F-mounted Burson,
second was a great way to start
what will be a more low-key sea-
son as he plans to race only se-
lect events this year and spend
more time with his family.
After settling into third early
on, Burson said, "I kind of felt
that the pace was a little too high
to sustain. This is the desert.
You can only see so far and go
so fast. I feel like I've raced quite
a [few races] and I was like, 'Go
ahead.' Then Jake crashed [but
got going just ahead of me], Joe
was pushing his bike in the next
valley, then leaving the pits here
Dalton was pushing his bike
back. It kind of worked out [for
me]. It doesn't always work out
that way, but that's kind of my
goal in every race: I'm going to
ride my own pace, my own race
and see what happens."
Beta's Zane Roberts held third
not far behind Burson, but took
a wrong turn a couple miles from
the finish. Smith quickly saw his
mistake, pounced and raced
past for his first-ever overall
podium finish with Roberts
recovering for fourth, 12 seconds
behind.
Pearson Farms Racing KTM
rider Axel Pearson, Johnny
Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda's
Preston Campbell, Beta sup-
port rider and Pro II winner Cole
Conatser, Champion Adventures
Honda-mounted Nic Garvin and
Garrett Off-Road Racing KTM's
Corbin McPherson (the Pro II
runner-up) rounded out the top
10 overall.
Mark Kariya
OVERALL
1. Jacob Argubright (Kaw)
2. Nick Burson (Yam)
3. Ryan Smith (Hus)
4. Zane Roberts (Bet)
5. David Kamo (KTM)
6. Axel Pearson (KTM)
7. Preston Campbell (Hon)
8. Cole Conatser (Bet)
9. Nic Garvin (Hon)
10. Corbin McPherson (Hus)
Malcolm Pearson seems to have
figured out his YZ65 and dominated
the combined Micro Mini (65cc)/Girls
race. He's the latest in a long line of
Pearsons who win desert races.
