ful of single dabs in several of
the following sections left him
tied on 12 points with teammate
FactoryOne Scorpa's Alex Myers
for fourth place after the first
loop. Martyn was able to find an
extremely solid flow, cleaning
every section and finishing the
loop with zero points.
"Today was a tough one for
sure," said Smage. "It started off
a bit rough. I had a big mistake
in section two; I just let my bike
go on a big splatter and didn't
have great confidence after that.
I had another five on the second
loop. I didn't ride as well as I
needed to beat the guys ahead
of me; they just outrode me. I
put together a solid last loop, but
it was too little, too late at that
point. I think it was the hardest
event of the year, and it showed
with the points spread."
Sunday's sections had a bit
more flow to them but were no
less of a challenge. Two of the
sections saw many Pro rid
-
ers decide to punch full points
instead of risking an attempt.
Section six began with an off-
camber hairpin turn followed by
a splatter from a deep mudhole.
Section 11 required a launch
from a place in the water, with
the risk of failure potentially
leading to the rider drowning
their bike. Results for the day
were higher than the previous
day, but Smage was able to keep
in front of the competition. After
results were tallied, Martyn was
out front with the series points
lead over Smage.
"I felt better today," said
Martyn. "Started off good in the
morning. I knew for the cham
-
pionship, I only had to be safe
and get the day done. I had a
few slack dabs, which meant
that Pat beat me overall. The
sections were a little bit harder
today, but I've enjoyed it. This
season has been cool. Pat kept
me so honest, and I knew he
was going to be such a strong
opponent all year. It was a bit
tense coming into this weekend,
for sure, but I'm super happy to
get it done. I really wanted to tick
this one off the list. We've got an
exciting year ahead for next year,
so it was cool to finish off the
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P47
Pat Smage won
Sunday's competition
and finished out the
year in second.
