Oliveira Wins Blazing Saddles H&H
F
MF KTM Factory Off-Road
Racing Team's Dante Oliveira
topped the inaugural Blazing
Saddles 100 National Hare &
Hound hosted by the Whatever
Motorcycle Club by 31 seconds
over Norman Racing Husqvarna
rider Daemon Woolslayer with
Liqui Moly Beta's Zane Roberts a
further five seconds back.
Oliveira's second-straight tri
-
umph in the AMA Hare & Hound
National Championship Series,
Presented by FMF—his second
one ever—moves him into the
series points lead over current
champ Roberts after five rounds,
135-129, with privateer Wool
-
slayer third at 107.
Held about an hour from the
site of the Burning Man festival,
the Whatever club members laid
out 41- and 46-mile loops that
highlighted the diverse nature of
this remote area—a sprint on a
dry lakebed to start, followed by
hills, rocks, sand washes, silt and,
refreshingly, a minimal amount of
whoops, though virgin trail across
sage roughly substituted.
The nature of the area, howev
-
er, guaranteed lots of dust, and
that meant getting the holeshot
was the key to the race.
"I put everything into mak
-
ing sure I got the jump and the
drive down that lakebed to come
out of that first because this
[wind-driven dust] is nasty!" the
Red Bull/Dunlop/Alpinestars
450 XC-F rider said. "I'm sure
the wind must've been okay
for [Woolslayer and Roberts],
because they still finished pretty
close to me, but I would not have
liked to be riding second or third,
I'll tell you that much! I put the
hammer down and charged, got
a little gap, and kind of just con
-
trolled the race from there."
In the top five off the start,
Woolslayer and his Economy
Floors & Countertops/Dunlop/
Klim-sponsored FX 450 made
WIND
IN THE
P42
Two wins in a row for
Dante Oliveira give
him the points lead
after five rounds.
PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
