83
Michael
Blose 8th
Despite having some bad
luck, Michae Blose, who
l
hails from Arizona, was
happywith his eighth. place
ride. "Practice went really
well today, and I didn't have
to qualifysinceI was top 10
in points after Dallas, which
was good," he said. "I was
nice and relaxed, and I qualified fifth in my heat race. I
got off to a good start in the
main event. but then Dylan
Lord and I got together,
which put a large whole in
my clutch cover, andall the
oil drained out. It slowed
the bike down quite a bit,
but I managed to hangonto
eighth overall."
sunny pracnce sessions to prepar~ fQr tlie
night program . In an effort to dry out the
track, the Dirt Wurx €rew laid dQwn several layer of gravel under the dirt to help
soak up some of the moisture.
e plan
worked, but after all the practice and
qualifying session were concluded, the
gravel had made its way to the surface of
the track, making for some interesting
traction issues.
"The dirt has a lot of rocks in it, and it's
loose ," Tedesco said. And that wasn't all
that the riders had to contend with. "The
altitude is also having an effect on bike
performance, but everybody is in the
same boat as far as the conditions go."
In the first heat race, Ronc-ada wasted
no time getting to the front. Honda's
Nathan Ramsey tucked in behind the
Frenchman and pressured him the whole
22
MAY 5, 2004
CYCLE NEWS
52 Greg Schnell
18tli
ArnsoiVChaparral Honda'sGreg
Schnell did not have the night like he
had the previous week in Dallas,
where he finished third. Although he
qualified well in SaltLake. Schell got
together with another rider early in
the final and bent his shift lever and
looped out in front of everybody
else over one of the big triples.
" That was so embarrassing," Schnell
saidwith a smile. "The shifter was
almost touching my footpeg, and it
was useless."
