can be off a little bit on setup,
but you have two hours on the
track to get set up.
"Whereas here at a hare scram-
ble, you're hopping on it and
you're riding it as is for two and
a half hours. For this weekend,
I just put my bike back to how it
was set up at the grand prix."
And that proved good enough,
though Acerbis/Alpinestars/Oak
-
ley-backed Redondi kept him on
his toes early on aboard a KX250
(equipped with a KL Services
300cc big-bore kit) from his Red
18 California Experience rental
fleet.
"I got a good start, but with
the small bike, I got passed, and
then I was third coming into the
single-track," he said. "Mateo
was riding pretty good! I think
I was a little bit faster with the
small bike in the tight sections,
but I didn't make it happen.
[He also fell later, surrendering
ground he'd be unable to make
up entirely.] Second is okay. We
will take it."
He finished 20 seconds behind
Oliveira's two hours, 45 minutes
and 19 seconds elapsed time.
It was then a couple of minutes
back to Roberts in third aboard
his Bridgestone/FMF/Moose
Racing 480 RR, having lost touch
in the early going due to dust.
"I actually had a pretty good
jump off the start, going into Tal
-
ladega [almost next to Oliveira],"
he said. "I took that inside to go
up the [first hill on the MX track]
because that's what was working
out for all the other races before
us, but none of the people were
going around the outside and
actually jumping up the hill, so
I got shuffled back there a little
bit. The dust was brutal; I think
this was the worst I've seen the
dust here, and it was a techni
-
cal course—a lot more technical
than I expected—a lot of first
gear, surprisingly. Still a fun day.
I just got killed there in the first
couple laps."
Though he also had a subpar
moment off the start, Smail and
his Team Green/JMR Suspen
-
sion/FXR KX250 quickly worked
into the lead of the Pro 250s.
"It definitely put me in a bad
spot missing that first turn [into
the single-track]," Smail said. "It
put me in third—so I had to get
JJ [Concannon] pretty early on,
VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P43
Though he took the
wrong line going into
the single-track off
the start, Layton Smail
charged into the class
lead and won Pro 250
class for the fourth
time this season.
