VOL. 51 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 7, 2014 P69
the right time and going through
the rollers. I'm happy. And I felt
like everybody was doing better
and better since yesterday. To-
day everybody was going faster
and faster. So it was getting really
interesting and really stressful,
because you're like, 'Uh, those
guys are going the same speed
[as me].' So, you really have to
make it a good run. But I'm happy
to win the first time, the Straight
Rhythm. I really want to thank
Red Bull for putting this event
together. For [a first-time event],
they did a great job. And I think
the fans really liked it. They were
standing up on the stairs over
there, so I think they loved it. All
the riders I talked to, they were
so excited. It was a great event."
Hill probably really was a little
easier for Musquin to deal with,
because Hill wasn't completely
healthy, and by the time the final
came around, he felt weak.
"Not a bad debut," Hill said of
finishing second in his first ride
on a KTM. "I mean, I got strep
this week, so I wasn't even sure if
I was going to race. So to get on
the podium is nice. When I got to
the end, I was really nervous for
the last race with Marvin because
I was sitting there weak and shak-
ing. So I just thought I'd do what I
could do. Not to discount Marvin,
he was riding awesome today,
but it was one of those things
where I was like, 'Let's go for it,'
but I didn't take any chances. It's
supposed to be a fun race and
for me to blast myself here and
not be able to get ready for Mon-
ster Cup and the next year is kind
of stupid."
OPEN CLASS
Although it was referred to initially
as the "450cc class," that prob-
ably changed when Travis Pastra-
na announced he'd be racing the
Straight Rhythm on his new "RM-
Zilla" —which was a CR500R
two-stroke engine (although, with
Pastrana's long-running loyalty to
Suzuki, he never officially said
that it was a Honda engine) in an
RM-Z450 chassis. Pastrana al-
ways figures out a way to make
things more interesting, and
many of the people in attendance
likely left talking not about the
winner in either class, but about
Pastrana's absolutely heroic runs
against Josh Hansen.
The top nine after qualifying
went like this: Yoshimura Suzuki's
James Stewart, Red Bull KTM's
Dean Wilson (in his debut), BTO-
Sports.com KTM's Justin Bray-
ton (also in his debut), Malcolm
Stewart (on a Seven-backed
Honda), Monster Energy/Pro
Circuit Kawasaki's Josh Hill, pri-
vateer Kyle Partridge, TLD/Lucas
Oil KTM's Shane McElrath, Travis
Pastrana, and Monster Energy's
In his first ride on his new
BTO KTM, Justin Brayton
ended the day second in the
Open class.
