VOLUME 58 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 P45
good lesson to never give up."
Robert also had issues with
lapped riders in the rocks.
"The first three turns set
the tone for the race when we
passed each other three times,"
said Robert. "I pulled a gap on
him. He pulled a gap on me. The
rocks were tricky, but doable, but
you can't do anything when there
were three guys sitting in the only
two lines."
Redondi returned home to Italy
during the summer break and
was able to get back into racing
shape. He beat out Martinez in
the closing laps to snag the final
spot on the box and earned his
first podium of the season.
In Sunday's Pro 450 race, the
red flag and subsequent restart
confounded some riders and
paid off for others. Martinez was
in the latter category. Martinez
(Honda) took the lead after three
laps and led the rest of the way
for his first-ever WORCS victory.
Oliveira finished second, and
officially took his largest lead in
points this year over Robert.
Trevor Stewart (Kawasaki) was
third and Robert fourth.
"They called the race and I
think we all had a meltdown,"
said Martinez. "When you run
with that intensity for 30 minutes
and then have to do it again for
an hour, it's difficult on the body.
I just tucked in behind Trevor at
the start and the pace he had for
the first couple laps was intense.
I knew it would be close on fuel,
but with two laps to go, I tried to
milk it. I saw Dante coming, but
I had such a good gap I knew I
could hold him off."
Oliveira got pushed back dur-
ing the restart and spent most of
the first lap recovering. He made
it up to third and then second be-
hind Martinez. Though he began
catching him, he ran out of time
and finished second.
"For the restart, I got absolute-
ly sandwiched back in the pack,"
said Oliveira. "I was just trying to
make moves and I got into third.
I made it up to second and was
getting really close, and then I
went down. I got close to Cole
Cole Martinez took his first
career WORCS win on Sunday.
