Three-time series champ
Dalton Shirey made his first
series appearance since round
two—it's been a rough year with
injuries—and earned third in his
final ride for Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna.
"Even if I got paid for 10th, I
want to win!" Oliveira said. "It's
great to go out there and put a
good effort in and get consis
-
tent seconds and win the cham-
pionship, but the confidence
you have from finishing first, it's
nice; it's a good feeling when
you know you're doing some-
thing right."
The Red Bull/Dunlop/Alpin-
estars 450 XC-F rider added,
"I wanted to go out there and
get this win, and I had a great
start to put me there, but I had a
little too much tunnel vision and
missed my line right at the end
of the bomb where I had to cut
in to go through the flags, so I
gave up a few seconds."
Heavy dust made passing risky,
and with Roberts setting a pace
that saw him and Oliveira draw
gradually away from the field,
Oliveira decided wrapping up the
championship was better than
risking a crash in the many rocks
littering the two-loop (36 and 35
miles) course at North Anderson
Dry Lake in the Johnson Valley
Off-Highway Vehicle Area.
For Roberts, his only hope
was winning and depended on
someone finishing between him
and Oliveira, as a third-place fin
-
ish for Oliveira would see them
tie on points and the Beta ace
would keep the championship
FINAL ROUND / OCTOBER 18-19, 2025
JOHNSON VALLEY OHVA / LUCERNE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
OFF-ROAD I AMA NATIONAL HARE & HOUND CHAMPIONSHIP
P94
Nine points down
going into the finale,
Zane Roberts' only
chance of holding
onto the number-one
plate was to win and
hope Oliveira finished
third or worse. He
won, but...
