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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127837
MOTOCROSS AMAlAfAXlMA WESTERN FOUR·STROKE MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP .. ~ , I "" ",. ",. o , [J ...,j ... '-,. " , "' 0 '" r .... I ..... r '" . (Left) KTM's Lance Smail won both motos at the opening round of the AMAlMaxlma Western Four-Stroke MX Championship Series In Arizona. (Below) Mike Young (2) grabs the holeshot in moto two ahead of Scott Myers (5) and Brian Roth (27). .~ ley on lap two. This was , ....,j all Kalas needed, as he ..._ - - " was right there diving to the inside rut to make the pass for sixth. XR440-mounted Walters moved up and started to pressure third-place Myers and his ATK 605. Walters was certainly autclassed on power down the straightaways, ·but heading into turn four together, Walters used momentum and .took the outside line while Myers was commited to the inside groove and had to slow briefly. Upon the exit of the turn, Walters prevailed. At the halfway signal, Smail had moved out to a lO-second-plus lead on Young. The charging Kalas was back six seconds in third and had picked off Drew, Myers and Walters to ge.t there. Kalas was clearly making up time on Young and closed to within three seconds at the flag. With his lead as large as it was and Young having trouble with arm pump, Smail simply cruised to a masterful victory. . "My start was good," Smail said. "Although I spun a little bit off the pad and was a little sideways, I was able to pull up in there and make it to fourth by the second turn. I knew I could be real aggresive and go by them on the jumps like I did in practice. I used it to my advantage the first lap to get into the lead. At the beginning, Mike was giving me some pressure, and 1 was riding a little tight, so I started relaxing a little bit and started breathing. I got a decent lead and just cruised in from there." Young did his best to hang with White Brothers Racing's Walters, three seconds up on the trio of Drew, Davis and Kalas. Following them was Team IMS/Primal Impulse Honda riders Shaun Perolio and Mike Healey, BBR's Brad Hagseth and Lynnwood Yamaha/KTM's Billy Binkley. Davis, riding a Kawasaki Team Green/Straker Racing machine, went just a little wide coming out of the val- Smail but ultimately slowed and settled for second, lucky not to have fallen prey to Kalas. "1 just pinned it in third and got a decent start," Young said. "It was crazy around the first turn. Everyone was going wide open. 1 used the lines 1 tested out during practice. I had a great section in the whoops where 1 was gaining on Lance, but he must have seen it up Dircks in turn three for a pas& for second place, though Dircks was holding him off. Smail soon hooked up with their battle and began pressuring Young for third. As the trio raced down the straight, Smail jetted into a right-hand turn and stuffed inside Young to take over the spot. Smail's new target was second-place Dircks· and, despite the Premier Motorsports Husaberg rider's best attempts at blocking the charging Smail, the KTM pilot flew right by as he outjumped his competion through a stutter section. Not to be left out of the fight for the mota win, Young soon followed, marking the beginning of the end for Dircks, who would eventually fade to 12th by mota's end with mechanical troubles. Smail's mission was certainly evident as he was landing 10-15 feet further over most of the jumps than anyone else. His efforts were rewarded with first place at the end of the openinglap as he caught and passed Myers. As the leading trio approached the whoops, Young was all over Myers. Exiting the left-hand sweeper, Young carved to the inside, then shot past Myers over the long tabletop making the pass down in the back ·valley. Running comfortably in fourth was By.Don Schneider Photos by Kinney Jones m COITONWOOD, AZ, APR. 13 eigning Western National Fourrl Stroke Motocross Champion Lance Smail demolished the competition again. The KTM Sportmotorcydes USA-backed Smail picked up where he left off last season as he decimated the 27-rider field in mota one by more than 11 seconds, then returned in mota two to not only survive a midpack start but come right through the field to steal the lead from factory Husaberg USA-backed Mike Young Jr. and take the win. That pass ended Young's chance at stealing the overall from Smail as he had finishe.d second in mota one and could have come out on top of the tie breaker. As it was, Young's weekend netted him second in overall points behind Smail, 50-44. Third after the weekend's racing was Shaun Kalas who, like the top two, repeated his finishes in both motos to card 40 points. Kalas' performance was particularly impressi ve in the second mota as he crashed in the first tum and had to work from deep in the pack. ATK's Scott Myers had chosen an outside starting gate at the start of mota one and he put it to good use as he simply nailed a clean holeshot over Drey Dircks, Young, Spud Walters, Brian Roth, Ty Davis, Steve Drew, Kalas and Smail. Despite his somewhat slow start, Smail ripped through the whoops and exited the section right behind fourthplace Walters. Smail's momentum then carried him past Walters in the air over a 4O-£oot tabletop. Meanwhile, Young was trying t.o set