tractor work, and the result was
a tighter-than-usual course that
retained its normal mix of sand
and rocks to become extremely
rough. Combined with constant
wind that dried the course de-
spite running water trucks most
of the night and between many
races, it added up to a supreme
test of one's fitness.
Indeed, Martinez kept his
Monster Energy/Lava Propane/
Fly Racing CRF450RX a few
seconds behind Oliveira for the
first hour, but in the final 30 min-
utes, he found himself unable to
stay with the eventual winner.
"I made a pretty hard push to
get right on him at the beginning
and then I kind of mellowed out a
little bit and tried to flow," Mar-
tinez said. "I knew it was going
to be a hot one, but I think the
heat came in a little hotter; in the
ravines, the wind was not there
[to give any cooling breeze]!"
Oliveira pitted a lap after
Martinez—the gap between them
just four seconds—but Oliveira
managed to extend that in the
run to the finish and he ended up
a minute and 19 seconds in front
at the checkered flag.
Oliveira now leads Martinez in
the points standings, 136-114, go-
ing into the summer break.
Second off the start, Walton
slid out on the opening lap which
let Martinez by him, and Walton
spent the rest of the race unable
to reel him back in, yet comfort-
ably ahead of fourth place. The
FMF/Dunlop/Fly Racing FX 450
racer said, "The track was brutal
this time. It was really technical
and had more of a slow pace. You
expect it to be slow [here], but it
was slower than slow at times so
adapting to it and finding those
[good] lines, it was brutal."
Walton remains third in points
at 99.
After chasing SLR Honda's
Tallon LaFountaine for nearly the
IN
THE
WIND
P50
Havasu is very much
like the riverbed
the Oliveiras train
in regularly. Thus, it
shouldn't be a huge
surprise that Mateo
won Pro II.
