nez sped past—though Oliveira
wouldn't be denied and re-
passed Martinez a couple laps
later. Martinez hung tough to
the finish, where he was just six
seconds behind Oliveira who
credited a phone call to WP Sat-
urday afternoon for getting his
suspension dialed for Taft.
"I had second and I just made
a little bobble and he got away
from me," Martinez admitted. "I
wasn't sure how much time we
had left at the end and they put
[the white flag out]. I pushed
pretty hard that last lap to get on
him. I was looking for a mistake
from Dante [but] he rode great."
Martinez's teammate and
defending series champ Trevor
Stewart bounced back from
a disappointing round one for
fourth. Thanks to more time to
dial in his Lava Propane/Pro
Circuit/Bell Helmets CRF450RX,
he found himself much more
competitive, though Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna's Austin Wal-
ton put on a huge charge at the
end to nearly pass.
Dalton Shirey was a further
two minutes back for sixth place
aboard his 3 Bros./SRT Husky
FX 450 followed by Purvines
Racing teammates Justin Seeds
and Blayne Thompson.
SLR Honda's Tallon LaFoun-
taine repeated as Pro II winner,
matching his Adelanto perfor-
mance at ninth overall, with TM
Racing's Rodrig Thain of France
rounding out the top 10.
Mark Kariya
PRO
1. Zach Bell (Kaw)
2. Dante Oliveira (KTM)
3. Cole Martinez (Hon)
4. Trevor Stewart (Hon)
5. Austin Walton (Hus)
6. Dalton Shirey (Hus)
7. Justin Seeds (Yam)
8. Blayne Thompson (Yam)
9. Tallon LaFountaine (Hon)
10. Rodrig Thain (TM)
IN
THE
WIND
P46
Taft's big step-up saw a
number of minis clear it,
including NGPC 85cc Senior
winner Andrew Schulz.
