and trying to find the best line."
Stewart remained a major fac-
tor, though, as he continuously
lurked a few seconds behind Wal-
ton on the Monster Energy/Ske-
chers/Lava Propane CRF450RX
bearing the number-one plate. "I
was super-stoked with my ride,"
he said. "I really wanted that win
so bad, [but] honestly it didn't
seem like it was working for me
today. Every time I would catch
up, I would get to, like, the Pro
section and then I had two kids
fall in front of me and I sat there
for 20 seconds. What can you
do, though? I know today I rode
to my best ability and right there
on the last lap, I was so close!"
How close? Two seconds
separated Stewart from Walton.
was battling with Trevor Stewart
and Cole Martinez, and made the
pass on both them going down
one of the straightaways so I
worked my way into second and
rode as hard as I could the whole
race and was able to keep it there
and be consistent enough to put
it on the top."
He added, "It's not the great-
est conditions—everything's
super-slick out there, and it
kind of changed [throughout].
It was super-rainy at first then it
stopped, and it dried out a little
bit at the end. You had to change
your lines up every lap; there
was a lot of line-changing where
mostly some of the races we can
hit the same [lines] every lap. This
one was a lot of line changing
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 9 MARCH 3, 2020 P49
well as Garrett Off-Road Racing
Husqvarna rider Ryan Surratt,
among others.)
Walton assumed the lead at
that point and kept his FMF/Mo-
torex/Fly Racing FC 450 in front
the rest of the race to take his
first-ever Pro triumph in his first
year in the class.
"To get a Pro win here is really
cool, especially with the condi-
tions," he said after taking the
checkered flag. "It's not some-
thing I didn't think I could do, but
I didn't know when it was going to
happen.
"My start was not the greatest—
I was kind of midpack up there,
probably top five. It took me a
little bit to get into second place
[behind Bell]. On the first lap I
After following
Mateo Oliveira
for most of the
90 minutes, a
last-lap pass
allowed Jake
Alvarez to nab
his first-ever Pro
II victory.
Jack Aaron
dominated
the combined
NGPC
50cc/65cc/
Junior Girls
race en route to
his first win in
the class.
