however. The Husqvarna rider
stayed within striking distance
throughout the remainder of the
race, gradually chipping away at
Hart's advantage during the clos-
ing laps.
Hart ultimately held on to take
the moto victory by just 1.460
seconds over LeBlond, completing
an impressive comeback from his
disappointing Las Vegas opener.
Behind the leading pair, Tim
Apolle turned in one of the
evening's more impressive
rides, advancing from ninth on
the opening lap to finish third.
Walker recovered to fourth, while
Abbott rounded out the top five.
Hart's two moto wins gave him
the overall victory with four Olym-
pic points, compared to Walker's
The result set up an intrigu-
ing showdown in the final moto,
with Hart and Walker tied at three
points apiece and the overall vic-
tory hanging in the balance.
Once again, Walker looked like
the rider to beat, grabbing the early
lead and opening a 2.385-second
advantage over Hart by the end of
lap two. However, disaster struck
on lap three when Walker went
over the handlebars in the matrix
section, his second costly mistake
in the same obstacle during the
evening.
Hart, LeBlond and Abbott swept
past the fallen Triumph rider, leav-
ing Walker fourth and effectively
handing Hart control of the overall.
LeBlond wasn't about to make
things easy for the Canadian,
Russell led the opening lap
on his Kawasaki before Beta-
mounted James Flynn took over,
but Walker was already closing
rapidly. By lap three, Walker had
moved into the lead and began
pulling away from the field.
Hart, meanwhile, was buried
in eighth on the opening lap and
faced an uphill battle to salvage
a strong result. The Canadian
steadily picked off riders, mov-
ing into third by lap four before
overtaking Webb for second on
the following circuit.
By then, Walker had estab-
lished a comfortable advantage
and cruised to a 9.325-second
victory over Hart. Webb claimed
third, with LeBlond fourth and
Haaker fifth.
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P77
Rockstar Husqvarna's Ryder
LeBlond backed up his
second place in Las Vegas
with a third overall in Idaho.
