"Dalton came out of nowhere
and blew my doors off on the
road. When he gapped me and
later made a pass on Dante, I
just started to turn it on and knew
it was time to go. From there, I
gave it the berries and started
sending it to pass Dante and try
to catch Dalton in the closing
laps."
Leading laps for the first time
this year, Shirey pumped up
and started to fade back ever
so slightly. Unsure whether to
play it safe or settle for second,
Cole put it all on the line and
unleashed his signature late-
race charge to pass the desert
ace on their final trip around the
MX track. Oliveira crossed the
checkered flag in third, disap-
pointed with his result.
"Cole and Dalton were on it
today," he said. "Both of them
got me just past the hour mark
and they just wanted it more to-
day. I'm happy I scored valuable
points today, but I wanted to win
with the start I had today."
This weekend's victory marks
the second win of the season for
Martinez, the Honda CRF450RX
pilot, and Shirey's first NGPC
podium this year. Heading into
the next round in Primm later this
month, Martinez holds a tight
four-point lead over Oliveira as
they break away from the rest of
the Open Pro field in the stand-
ings.
The Pro 2 class saw more of
the same with FMF/RPM KTM's
Mateo Oliveira grabbing the
holeshot, leading wire to wire en-
route to eighth overall and first in
the Pro 2 field.
"The holeshot today was
crucial with how dusty and high
speed it is," Mateo said. "I put in
a charge early on to build a gap,
then paced myself the rest of the
day to grab the win."
The 3Bros. Kilmartin Racing
duo of Kai Aiello and Colton Aeck
rounded out the Pro 2 podium
finishing amid the back half of
Open Pro riders.
Aiello said, "I got off to a hectic
start and actually had to jump
over a rider in one of the tricky
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 14 APRIL 5, 2022 P37
Mateo Oliveira
checked out early and
led wire to wire to top
the 250cc ranks.
