VOLUME 58 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 26, 2021 P83
Despite having shoulder sur-
gery in the off-season and hav-
ing minimal time on his Kenda/
Motul/Fly Racing 480 RR, Was-
son took advantage of his good
start that saw him fourth after
the bomb. "I wasn't expecting to
get top 10 today," he confessed.
"All the improvements we've
made on our bikes and switch-
ing to the 480s, it was a drastic
change in how much better they
were this year. I just got into
second and was like, 'Okay,
everything's feeling pretty good.'
I really worked on my breathing
and stuff and just calmed down.
I got in my groove and just rode
it to the finish. I was really im-
pressed by how well everything
held together with my shoulder."
His total time was 2:18:46.
FMF/Rekluse/Klim-backed
Roberts found it a disadvantage
to follow in the snow as the bike
ahead would throw huge amounts
of the white stuff and make
goggles nearly useless. "I think I
started like eighth or something
and by the time I got to third, I had
zero tear-offs left," he shared.
With the lack of dust, Shirey
found it just as important to get a
good start and get away quickly
because with snow covering
much of the trail, he noticed he
wasn't looking as far ahead, and
his competitors were probably
doing the same.
"There was about one or two
tracks that went through the
actual course (likely made by
spectators or club pre-riders).
Everything off that was virgin
[and covered with snow in a
number of areas]. It was super-
difficult to follow the course
because you were looking kind
of more down in front of you
instead of far up the trail be-
cause the snow is kind of hiding
everything," Shirey said.
His strategy worked well, and
he completed the 74 miles in
two hours, 17 minutes and 25
seconds.
Early in the race, Corbin
McPherson enjoyed a small
gap over current Pro 250
champ Cole Conatser, but
he kept stretching it and
won for only the third
time in his career.
