WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK KARIYA
I
f round one is any indication, the
FMF AMA National Grand Prix
Championship (NGPC) Series is
going to be a dogfight all year.
Less than two months after the
2021 series finale, the So Cal Motor-
cycle Club was right back at it with
cooler, damper conditions on a sce-
nic yet challenging course at Ameri-
can MX for the NGPC opener.
Obviously not satisfied finishing
last season as runner-up, Slam Life
Racing (SLR) Honda's Cole Marti-
nez made a statement by fending off
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Austin
Walton (third in 2021 points) for prac-
tically the entirety of the 90-minute
$8000 feature race. Two-time and
defending series champ Dante Olivei-
ra of the FMF KTM Factory Racing
Off-road Team settled for third, some
35 seconds back.
Walton actually got the best start
and led early aboard his FMF/Mo-
torex/Fly Racing-sponsored FX 450,
but it didn't take long before Martinez
recovered from an average start and
moved into second on his Monster
Energy/Lava Propane/Skechers
CRF450RX.
"I was so mad [botching my start
like that]; I was like, 'Are you kid-
ding me?' mainly because the roost
hurts so bad here," Martinez said. "I
followed Walton a little bit just to see
how things were going for him then I
made a move and got in the lead."
However, Walton wasn't about to
give up easily and repassed Martinez
the next time around.
"The fast lines left the door open,"
Walton explained. "I was able to find
some better lines, smoother stuff
and picked that pace up and get him
back. We were still battling hard, and
just kept going faster and faster."
"It was good racing; it was clean
racing today," Martinez admitted.
"We were actually side by side in
some turns—it was pretty sick!"
ROUND 1 / JANUARY 15-16, 2022
AMERICAN MX / DELANO, CALIFORNIA
P64
OFF-ROAD I FMF AMA NATIONAL GRAND PRIX CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
BACK
TO SCHOOL
MARTINEZ, OLIVEIRA, RICHARDS
FIRE FIRST SHOTS AT DELANO NGPC
