IN
THE
WIND
P50
For Martinez and his Pro Circuit/
STI Tires/Fly Racing CRF450R, the
race itself was probably the easiest
part of his week, as he'd been dealing
with sick family members while trying
to keep from falling ill himself, plus
he had a big crash in Sunday morn-
ing's Unclassified race. In addition,
the change in weather caught him by
surprise, and all he had time to do was
stack a few more tear-offs onto his
goggles—which still had a tinted lens
for sunny conditions.
"It's been a long, stressful week,"
he said. "In all honesty, I'm just lucky
to get out of here safe and being on
the podium is icing on the cake so I'll
take it. I feel like I obviously have more
in the tank."
3 Bros./SRT Husqvarna's Dalton
Shirey continued his steady trajectory
of improvement with a fourth place.
Fifth came down to a last-lap tussle
between Pro II riders Mateo Oliveira
and J.P. Alvarez. From their second-row
start, the pair moved up through the
pack with FMF/Maxxis/RPM Racing
KTM-mounted Oliveira leading the way.
Chaparral Motorsports/Precision
Concepts Kawasaki's Alvarez kept
pace, saying, "It was really hard out
here, actually, but I really enjoy racing
in the mud. I kind of paced myself
then pushed myself the last three laps
really hard, and I was able to calculate
it right and made the pass on the last
lap. I was going to try leading [earlier],
but I felt like I was pushing way too
hard at the beginning."
A disappointed Oliveira finished sec-
ond Pro II and sixth overall just three
seconds behind while Beta's Chance
Fullerton claimed third in class and sev-
enth overall, 23 seconds farther back.
Purvines Racing's Mason Otters-
berg finished fourth Pro II and eighth
overall with Pro II competitors Austin
Serpa and Tallon LaFountaine round-
ing out the top 10.
Mark Kariya
PRO
1. Austin Walton (Hus)
2. Trevor Stewart (Hon)
3. Cole Martinez (Hon)
Unlike the past few years,
most of the weekend
featured sunny and dry
conditions with dust only in
a few areas, though most
of the course was well
watered.
4. Dalton Shirey (Hus)
5. JP Alvarez (Kaw)
6. Mateo Oliveira (KTM)
7. Chance Fullerton (Bet)
8. Mason Ottersberg (Yam)
9. Austin Serpa (KTM)
10. Tallon LaFountaine (Hon)
