chopped-up, nasty track, so it's
hard to prepare for this one."
With Walton and Martinez
lurking just a few seconds back
the whole way, Oliveira had no
chance to relax. "I didn't want
to go any faster, but I had no
choice to. Walton and Cole were
both charging—I saw them inch
-
ing in on me big time just after
the pit stop
and maybe a couple
of laps before the pit. To be able
to pull back out a little cushion,
it feels nice."
Physically, Walton held second
all afternoon aboard his Motorex/
Dunlop/Fly Racing-backed FX
450 after racing to second at the
frigid 93-mile AMA Hare & Hound
National in Utah the day before.
Even with his experience and
past success at the Twentynine
Palms Motorsport Complex—
the fastest course by far in the
series—Oliveira said, "It is wild
every time you show up here,
just having to send it. It's a dif
-
ferent beast, for sure, but I've
kind of
learned this track and
know it pretty well, but I don't
think there's any getting com-
fortable out here. We're ripping
the edge
the whole time just as
fast as these bikes can go. It's a
In Pro Women, SLR Honda's
Mikayla Nielsen rebounded from
her loss in round three to claim
top honors for the third time this
season over GasGas-supported
Ava Silvestri and FMF RPM Rac
-
ing KTM's Kaitlyn Jacobs.
Having
won the GNCC the pre-
vious weekend for the first time,
Oliveira
had lots of momentum
on his side, and it carried over in
the first dry race of the season
as he fired off the dead-engine
start and into the first turn out
front aboard his Red Bull/Mo
-
torex/Alpinestars 450 XC-F.
"It's
cool to be able to travel
around and race in different ter
-
rain, challenge myself, succeed
in them,
and learn," he said.
ROUND 4 / APRIL 6-7, 2024
TWENTYNINE PALMS MOTORSPORT COMPLEX /TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA
OFF-ROAD I PARTS UNLIMITED AMA NATIONAL GRAND PRIX CHAMPIONSHIP (NGPC), PRESENTED BY FMF
P74
Colton Aeck (526) and Mason
Semmens weren't much farther
apart than this all afternoon, the
Kawasaki rider, Aeck, notching
his second-straight Pro II win.
