Oliveira Holds on For Pala NGPC Win
B
uoyed by only his second
Pro 450cc-class win the
week before, FMF RPM Racing
KTM rider Mason Semmens led
most of the way at the Sunland
Shamrocks Motorcycle Club's
Fox Raceway Grand Prix, while
FMF KTM Factory Off-road Rac
-
ing Team's Dante Oliveira tried
to recover from a relatively slow
start that forced him to fight his
way through the pack.
Ultimately, a minor spill with
20-plus minutes to go cost Sem
-
mens enough time to let Oliveira
make the critical pass, beat
the Australian by two seconds,
and keep his perfect win streak
intact. The race served as round
five of the Rocky Mountain ATV/
MC AMA National Grand Prix
Championship (NGPC) Series,
presented by FMF. Rockstar En
-
ergy Husqvarna's Mateo Oliveira
managed to hold off a surging
Tyler Lynn of the Slam Life Rac-
ing (SLR) Honda squad for third
overall.
"Yeah, I had to work for that
one," Dante said. "It took me a
while to get my flow—that first
lap was crazy! I was using a
lot of energy and getting squir
-
relly, missing lines, blowing it
with feet off the pegs those first
couple laps, smashing it into
corners, standing the bike up—
just all over the place!"
But after seeing some of the
lines Mateo was using to good
effect, he got Semmens in his
sights, and with a lap and a half
to go, he executed the decisive
move aboard his Red Bull/Mo
-
torex/Alpinestars 450 XC-F.
"I had this one section I was
very good in, and I ended up
getting around him; just held it
on wide and blew deep into that
turn, kind of got my handlebars
in front of his front wheel. Once I
got around him, I was all smiles!"
But Semmens wasn't too
disappointed at his first NGPC
WIND
IN THE
P54
Dante Oliveira
approaches the
white flag only a few
seconds ahead of
eventual runner-up
Mason Semmens,
who had led most of
the Pala NGPC round.
