and catching Oliveira off guard.
From there, he quickly estab-
lished a lead over the field on his
Monster Energy/Skechers/Fly
Racing CRF450RX and appeared
to be headed for an uncontested
win.
"I knew [the final result would
depend] a lot on the start being
that the [off-road section] was
pretty enduro-ish, Six-Days-ish,"
Martinez explained. "I just made
sure I nailed the start, got out
front and just try to hit my lines.
"Honestly, this was probably
the gnarliest GP track I've ever
done, being like a full enduro
[off-road section]! Thank God
I've got Six-Days experience or
I'd be a fish out of water over
there now."
Having been balked at the first
corner by Martinez, Oliveira and
his Red Bull/Dunlop/Alpinestars
450 XC-F had a lot of catching
up to do, but he steadily worked
his way up. By the white flag, he
was on the Honda's rear fender
and all eyes were on the battle.
"I knew he was coming," Marti
-
nez admitted.
Oliveira said, "I put myself in a
bad position off the start. I actu-
ally got a great jump, but clipped
Cole and everybody ended up
going on the inside of us be-
cause I came in a little too hot."
He continued, "I put a nice
charge in the whole race but es-
pecially those last three laps but
just fell a little short and tipped
over on the last lap. Maybe
could've had something for him,
but that's all we got, is a maybe."
After running a strong second
for most of the first hour, DeMar
-
tile and his Fiji Water/Pirelli/FXR-
VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P33
Mason Semmens
returned to the top of
the box in Pro II.
Mikayla Nielsen's
pre-race training in
rocky trails worked
out perfectly, as she
took her fourth win
of the season.
