Oliveira Clinches Fourth-Straight
NGPC Championship
F
MF KTM Factory Off-road
Racing Team's Dante Oliveira
wrapped up his fourth-consec-
utive FMF AMA National Grand
Prix Championship (NGPC)
Series title by winning the eighth
and penultimate round of the
series, the Desert Classic Grand
Prix hosted by the Viewfinders
Motorcycle Club, September 30
– October 1.
Based on rider feedback,
the club revamped the course
centered at the Desert Empire
Fairgrounds and surrounding city
streets to slow speeds some
-
what, making it a bit longer in the
process while keeping the water
trucks and heavy equipment roll-
ing all weekend to provide great
conditions for Ridgecrest. It also
seemed to result in closer racing,
with former series champ Zach
Bell and his Chaparral Motors-
ports/Precision Concepts Kawa-
saki leading the early going and
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Austin Walton finishing just three
seconds behind Oliveira at the
end of the 90-minute, $8000 fea-
ture race, his second runner-up
finish in a row. Purvines Racing
Yamaha-mounted Justin Hoeft
claimed third, 21 seconds farther
back for his second podium of
the season.
"[Bell] came up, I think, on lap
three and started really push
-
ing and got in front of me for
a few miles then blew off the
track, and I ended up getting
back around him," the Red Bull/
Motorex/ Thor-supported 450
XC-F rider said. "I put my head
down from there, just trying to be
smooth and continued charging.
I saw Walton was back there
charging; Justin was there and
[his teammate] Trevor [Stewart]
was there, and [Ryan] Surratt—
they were all within, like, 10 sec
-
WIND
IN THE
P50
Dante Oliveira and
mechanic Bobby
Dawson are now
four-time NGPC
Champions.
PHOTOS:
MARK KARIYA
