Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 26, 2014 P99 "When it was my time to get around him, I made a clean pass. When I got in front, I just rode smart and tried to make no mis- takes, but I've never been out here and I made a few mistakes—blowing some corners and getting stuck in trees. Briefly... Ricky Brabec now has the points lead in three different series: AMA H&H, Best in the Desert and SCORE. "The points lead, that's a dream right there!" he said. "[Win- ning] all three this year would be a huge accomplishment for me and the team." Unofficially, Ricky Brabec now has 193 points while Nick Burson drops to second with 183. Ramirez, who was 10 points behind Burson going into the race, remains third with 171. Skyler Howes' runner-up unofficial- ly vaults him to fourth with 113 while Axel Pearson's third place keeps him fifth with 110. Jacob Argubright drops to sixth with 106. My Own Race: 3 NICK BURSON 4TH PLACE O/A The points leader over Ricky Brabec by a slim two points (165-163) going into the Muley Run, Purvines Racing Be- ta's Nick Burson knew it'd be tough to maintain that, given he'd undergone surgery on his hand four weeks ago. "I really had no idea how it'd feel," he said. "I tried riding Wednesday. I mean, I wasn't really released to ride. The doctor said it was okay for me to try to race, that I shouldn't do too much damage—I'm supposed to have my splint on now for another two weeks—but I had to try. I pulled a re- ally good start; I almost had the holeshot. I ended up third then Axel got me up the side of the wash with the little local trails. I just rode there all day. Jake [Argubright] got me at one point; I kind of let him by, he caught me so quick. After that, I just kind of rode my own race the whole day. My goal was to try to get a top five—the goal was to try to get a podium, but I'm happy with a top five." 450 IVAN RAMIREZ 5TH PLACE O/A Ivan Ramirez of the FMF/KTM Factory Off-road Racing Team won rounds six and seven but couldn't carry that mo- mentum into round eight, the victim of a poor start. "[Nick] Burson and I had the same line, the same trail down to the bomb and when they dropped the banner, we both hit—I think it was our handlebars or elbows that got stuck. He went to the left and I went to the right so we were kind of like falling, and I hit the guy that was right next to me on the other side so all three of us were almost falling. So Burson got the line and some other people on the left got the line and I was already behind so I was like, 'Well, I'm already be- hind, so I'm going to go through the bushes because there was nothing else I could do. There was a ditch there and some other guy hit the ditch and went over the bars and I was behind him and I almost landed on him. I was like, 'Oh, it's going to be a long day!' I saw everybody way ahead so I was just patient the whole day and riding smooth and pass- ing one by one." N 380 DALTON SHIREY 1ST 200CC A/12TH O/A Dalton Shirey won 200cc A for the seventh time this sea- son, easily clinching the class championship and getting the number one-plate a couple rounds early on his GPR Stabilizers/Maxxis/Megla Designs YZ125. "I was just go- ing out there and trying to do my own thing and trying to get the best overall finish I could get," he said. "Someone said I was in the top 10 off the start. It was really dusty behind some people, then I got into the sand washes after the start and started picking people off. It was just amazing, keeping it wide open the whole time." And now that he's locked up the 200cc A title, he has bigger plans. "For the next two Nationals, I'm going to try to race my 250 and get some seat time." The top three after their champagne showers: (left to right) runner-up Skyler Howes, winner Ricky Brabec and third-place Axel Pearson.

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