MOTOCROSS
AMA MAXIMA/WESTERN FOUR·STROKE
NATIONAL MX SERIES
Round 7: Owyhee MX Track
By Don Schnieder
•
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BOISE, rD,)ULY20
or KTM ' s La nce Smail, a nythi ng
less than a perfect day at Owyhee
MX Track just wouldn't do. With
only two ro unds rem aini ng on the
AMA Ma xima / We stern Four-St ro ke
Na tional MX Series calendar (including
the Owyhee event), and trailing Husabe rg 's Shaun Kale s by just nne poi nt,
Smail simply could not afford 110/ to w in
• bot" motos. And when it was all over,
Sma il did exactlv wh at he needed to do,
ta king the O wy hee win wi th a 1-1. In
d oing so, Sm ail mo ve s back in to th e
series points lead, which he gave up at
the previou s rou nd . Smail has significantly reduced the pr essur e on himsel f
for th e series finale a t Wa sh ouga l in
Wash ington. Now, the roles have been
re versed , as Kales finds h im self in a
must-win situation - as in both motos at
Washou gal - to ha ve any h ope of strippin g Smail of the title. Even if the two
riders trad e moto wins in Washin gton,
that jus t won't be enoug h for Kale s. as
Smail will still take ho me the championship title for the second year.
But firs t, Smail ha d to get th ro u gh
the Owyhee race, which h e did quite
well by pu lling clear of the p a ck for
back-to-beck w ins. Kalos, on the other
hand, certainly wa nted to win, too, bu t
he had to se ttle for the next-best thi ng
with a second- place ove rall finish , going
2-2 on the day.
Hon da-m o unted Mik e Hea ley took
ad vantage o f the non-appe a rance o f
(Abo v e) Shawn Highland (98) grabbed the ho leshotln the fir st
m oto at the Weslern Four-Stroke Nat ional ro und In Idaho.
Spud Walters (3), Mike Healey (202), Dustin Bloomfield (104),
Lance Small (1) and Shaun Kalas (46) g iv e ch as e.
(Right) Small sail ed h is KTM to vi ct ory In bo t h mot os .
(Left) Kalas saw his po lnls lead
go away after posting a pa ir of
second-place f inishes.
Kawasaki' s Ty Davis (w h o w a s busy
winning the AMA Nationa l End uro in
Co lorad o) to mov e into th ird p lace in
th e se rie s a fte r takin g third o ve rall in
Id ah o with 3-4 mo to finishes . Fourth
overall we nt to Hu s a be r g ' s Rober t
