Oliveira, Pretscherer, Silvestri Wrap NGPC Up
F
MF KTM Factory Racing Off-
road Team's Dante Oliveira
wrapped up the year just as
he'd started it: winning. Having
clinched his sixth-straight title
in the Rocky Mountain ATV/
MC AMA National Grand Prix
Championship (NGPC) Series,
presented by FMF, two weeks
ago, the eighth and final round of
the series had no bearing on his
final standings.
But he saw it as business as
usual, coming from behind to
win for the seventh time this
season, followed by Slam Life
Racing (SLR) Honda's Tyler Lynn
and first-time Pro II winner Sam
Pretscherer.
Cohosted by the Ventura
County Motorcycle Club, Best in
the Desert provided the Laughlin
Event Center venue it uses for
some of its popular four-wheel
desert races and had desert
legend David Pearson help lay
out the approximately 6.5-mile
course for the inaugural Laughlin
Grand Prix. Befitting the loca
-
tion and Pearson's extensive
desert heritage, it was one of
the fastest GPs and possibly the
most unrelenting, with unend-
ing chatter bumps, whoops and
rocks that effectively became
buckshot when launched from
the back tire of a 450 doing 80
or so miles an hour.
"What a wild difference it is
from [the AMA Hare & Hound
National Championship finale
last week in Lucerne Valley] to
Laughlin!" Oliveira said. "This
track was insane: fast, on the
ragged edge the whole time. It
took a couple of Hail Marys to
get it done, but we're leaving
safe and healthy."
An uncharacteristically poor
start on his Red Bull/Motorex/
Alpinestars 450 XC-F left him
last off the line, while new (and
repeat) Pro II champ Mason
Semmens launched fastest on
his new FMF RPM Racing KTM
450 SX-F, flanked by Lynn and
the other half of the FMF KTM
WIND
IN THE
P42
A week after locking
up the AMA Hare
& Hound National
Championship, Dante
Oliveira closed out
the NGPC season with
another win.
PHOTOS:
MARK KARIYA
