Back To Normal At NGPC
Viewfinders Grand Prix
I
t was back to business as usual
at the Viewfinders Grand Prix,
round eight of the FMF AMA
National Grand Prix Champion-
ship (NGPC) Series. Follow-
ing rare non-podium results at
round seven, FMF KTM Factory
Off-Road Racing Team's Dante
Oliveira, FMF RPM KTM's Mateo
Oliveira and Elite Off-road/Fly
Racing KTM's Brandy Richards
all topped their respective Pro,
Pro II and Pro Women classes at
the tricky Desert Empire Fair-
grounds course. In doing so,
each either extended or regained
control of their points chases
with two rounds remaining.
Dante Oliveira and title rival
Cole Martinez of the Slam Life
Racing (SLR) Honda squad
launched off the line quick-
est at the start of the $8000,
90-minute feature race but ran
wide. Purvines Racing Yamaha's
Trevor Stewart took advantage by
holding tight to the inside line on
his Berkeley Yamaha/FMF/Fast
House YZ450FX and led just
over a lap before he crashed and
had to call it a day.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Austin Walton happily went by
and led the next few laps. But
he ran out of fuel unexpectedly
early—twice, in fact, the second
time forcing him to push his
Motorex/Dunlop/Fly Racing-
backed FX 450 back to the pits.
Only then was his crew able to
determine that something had
cut his fuel line so they hurriedly
effected a temporary fix, refueled
again and sent him on his way to
ultimately finish 18th Pro—worth
IN
THE
WIND
P32
Dante Oliveira returned to the
top of the box in Ridgecrest.
PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
