SUPERCROSS
RED BULL STRAIGHT RHYTHM
OCTOBER 4, 2014
AUTO CLUB RACEWAY FAIRPLEX/POMONA, CALIFORNIA
P70
Josh Hansen. With first facing
off against 16th, second against
15th, etc., the stage was set for
the best racing of round one:
eighth qualifier Pastrana versus
ninth qualifier Hansen.
In hindsight, the one major dis-
advantage for Pastrana and his
"RM-Zilla" was the start. While a
500cc two-stroke doesn't really
make more or less power than
a well-built 450cc four-stroke,
it makes the power like a light
switch instead of spreading it
over a wide area. In addition,
newer fuel-injected 450s have
specialized ignition maps for
starts, while the RM-Zilla had to
be wrestled out of the gate with
a lot of throttle and clutch work.
Still, despite a couple of mas-
sive errors in the first run, Pas-
trana made an absolutely balls-
out run through the whoops and
nearly passed Hansen for the win
in their first race. In race two,
Pastrana got to the whoops even
with Hansen, then his RM-Zilla
ate Hansen for lunch. Pastrana
celebrated the win with a backflip
over the huge finish-line double
before the two lined up for their
third and final race.
"All this 'scrubbing' stuff came
along after I was done racing,"
Pastrana said before the racing
got going, "so, I just have to fig-
ure out how to make up time in
other places."
It was easy to see that Hansen,
who is planning to race Super-
cross full-time in 2015, truly didn't
want to let Vet-class Pastrana
beat him coming off the couch on
a Frankenstein motorcycle, and
Hansen stayed low and kept his
wheels driving forward in order
to hold a sizable lead as the pair
headed into the whoops on the
way to the checkered flag, and
he just managed to hold Pastrana
off by a couple of bikelengths to
move to the next round and face
James Stewart.
A couple of big errors in the
second of three races handed
the win to Hansen, who truly
looked like he was on-form, but
Stewart ultimately moved past
Hansen and into the semi-finals
Making his KTM
debut, Dean
Wilson just
missed making
the Open-class
podium.
