injury a few months ago, Dante
set the pace from the start
aboard his Red Bull/Dunlop/
Alpinestars-sponsored 450 XC-F.
But it wasn't long before Mateo
joined him on his own Motorex/
Renthal/100% 450 XC-F, spend
-
ing practically all of the race only
a few seconds behind.
"I was just kind of waiting to
see what [Dante was going to
do]," Mateo said. "He was reading
the terrain super-well, I thought,
'Better than I'd be doing if I was
leading,' and it was easier to fol
-
low, and we were pulling away a
little bit after lap three.
"I knew at the end I'd be a little
fitter than him [as far as] bike fit
-
ness, but I made a little mistake
with the pits on the last lap."
That settled it, though Rob
-
erts—always stronger the longer
the race goes—sprinted the
final lap aboard his FMF/Bridge-
stone/Klim 480 RR. From nine
seconds behind Mateo at the
white flag, Roberts erased all but
one second of their gap.
"I just tried to manage my
pace—I knew it was going to
come down to the end there," he
said. "I had a little crash midway,
and it kind of got me flustered a
little bit, but I felt good after that.
I was just trying to slowly close
down on these guys, but I didn't
want to do it too soon and wear
myself out. I think we ran the
fastest lap on the last lap, even
with pitting! That last lap hurt
pretty good, but it was fun."
After a poor start, Aeck had
a lot of ground to make up but
could adapt well to the Arizona
desert on his Complete Electric/
Hoosier Tire/O'Neal KX250. A
little over an hour into the race,
he'd moved into second in Pro
250 but was still 31 seconds
behind Pro 250 leader Smail.
Two laps later, Aeck had com
-
pletely erased that gap, moving
into the class lead and fourth
overall. Smail, however, refused
to give up. Eight seconds down
at the white flag, he gambled
and skipped his pit. That enabled
him to close the gap but not
eliminate it and he ran out of gas
in the scoring chute after taking
the checkered flag. Disappointed
to lose a close one, it was still a
good debut on his new (and very
stock) Canyon Excavation/Team
Green/FXR KX250.
VOLUME ISSUE JANUARY , P39
Colton Aeck (X526)
passed early leader and
defending Pro 250 champ
Layton Smail (1X) en
route to the class win and
fourth overall.
