could cruise to his first NGPC
overall, disaster struck.
"I had a really big lead," he said.
"I was riding insane. I was carry-
ing good momentum, I was sav-
ing a lot of energy, and the white
flag came out and I thought this
one was mine, man. I thought
I had it in the bag. Maybe 30
second from the finish, I broke
my bike. It could've been worse—
I could've DNF'd in back, but it
happened [on the straight next to
the finish line], which was insane.
I was able to [push my bike to the
finish] in second place which was
awesome—my best finish of the
season so far—so there's posi
-
tives to take out of this."
Hoeft's lead wasn't large
enough to prevent Slam Life
Racing (SLR) Honda's Cole
Martinez from riding past the
luckless Hoeft in disbelief,
having worked his way steadily
through the pack from seventh
place on the first lap. While few
would like to win that way, when
it's handed to you, all you can do
is accept it.
As the Monster Energy/Lava
Propane/Fly Racing CRF450RX-
mounted winner, Martinez, said,
"It sucks for him, but I've been
in that situation, too. It happens;
it's racing."
The leader for the first 20-plus
minutes, Chaparral Motorsports/
Precision Concepts Kawasaki's
Zach Bell earned his second
podium of the season on his
Rekluse/Dunlop/Leatt KX450X.
"I had really good starts all
weekend," he said. "The bike
started up really great, and I was
able to lead a few laps and for
some reason I hit a wall [fatigue]
before coming into the pit. I'm
not sure what it was. But right
after I pitted, I felt great after,
so it was just a weird thing, but
I was able to put in some good
laps at the end and secure third
so I was happy with that."
Walton—who ran out of fuel
within feet of his pit—rebounded
to claim fourth on his FMF/VP
WIND
IN THE
P46
A second pit late in the race
may not have been needed, but
after seeing four rivals run dry,
the SLR Honda crew took no
chances, giving eventual winner
Cole Martinez a splash.
