Oliveira All The Way At Glen Helen
"I
'm getting tired of seeing
Oliveira on the jersey in front
of me!" Liqui Moly Beta's Zane
Roberts said. However, he'll have
to wait a couple of weeks for the
chance to show an Oliveira the
back of his jersey.
For the second weekend in a
row, Roberts and his FMF/Bridge
-
stone/Klim 480 RR found him-
self chasing an Oliveira, though
this time it was not Dante in the
desert but Mateo, at round four
of the AMA West Hare Scrambles
(WHS) Regional Championship
Series, Presented by FMF.
Hosted by the National Hare
& Hound Association (NHHA),
which runs both the WHS and
AMA Hare & Hound Nationals,
it provided some of the usual
Glen Helen Raceway features
plus a number of new trails cut in
especially for the Memorial Day
Hare Scramble, making it not
just another race at Glen Helen.
(In addition, the weather proved
far more comfortable than last
year's inaugural event at the end
of summer that had tempera
-
tures over 100 degrees!)
For FMF KTM Factory Off-
Road Racing Team's Mateo
Oliveira and his Red Bull/Dunlop/
Alpinestars 450 XC-F, it was a
good test of the hand he had
surgically repaired after the pre
-
vious round last month.
"I've got a screw in my meta-
carpal, and I just had to rest for a
little bit [after my surgery on April
21]," he said. "I was still able to
train, which was cool; they didn't
put me in a cast or anything.
"It definitely was tight in the
beginning [of the race today], but
it loosened up and wasn't too
bad. I don't think it gave me a
problem—just lack of bike time
[was my biggest hurdle]. I think I
was pretty strong today; besides
my hand, my physical strength
and my cardio was the best it's
been. For two and a half hours, it
felt pretty solid."
But getting the holeshot and
leading from the outset allowed
WIND
IN THE
P44
Mateo Oliveira jumped
out to an early lead over
Zane Roberts and held it
the entire two and a half
hours. He now has a
15-point cushion in Pro/
AA points over his rival
with two rounds left.
PHOTOS: MARK KARIYA
