VOL. 51 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 28, 2014 P83
The race belonged entirely to
Brabec who rode his late-season
surge to the points lead after the
summer break and just extended
it aboard his Hoosier Precision
Machining/Dunlop/O'Neal Rac-
ing-backed KX450F.
That took the pressure off as
he lined up for the 10th and final
round at Lucerne. "I didn't need
to win, exactly—I think I needed
to finish only fifth or sixth [even if
Burson had won].
"I came into it wanting to win
because everyone wants to win—
you don't sign up to get second
or anything—but fortunately I got
a great start and I led the whole,
entire way with no mistakes. I
don't think this day could've gone
any better than it did."
He added, "The champion-
ship means a lot. It's definitely a
dream come true."
Brandon Prieto came in a
Briefly...
last raced a National at round three
in Idaho. Since then, he's done al-
most no riding but decided at the last
minute to hit the 100s National riding
the same TBT Racing/Fly Racing
KTM 450 XC-F he rode in Idaho. Af-
ter doing minimal maintenance (like
changing the oil and cleaning the fil-
ters), he deemed it ready to go—even
with the same rear tire he'd used in
Idaho! "I've been riding bicycles the
last few months—bicycle, bicycle,
bicycle!—and I get on the dirt bike
on the bomb and my feet kept slid-
ing off because I'm used to clip-ins
on mountain bikes and road bikes.
These 'pedals' don't move and your
feet just slide off so I felt like the
biggest goon half the time. People
behind me are probably like, 'Who
is this guy?' It was good. I got some
blisters, got a good finish and I'm just
happy to keep it upright and come in.
I didn't even know I was top 10 com-
ing in [after] the first loop—I had no
clue!"
The Super Mini championship came
down to the final race with Braydon
Bland winning the finale after de-
fending class champ Jarett Megla
crashed and ended up second on
the day. That gave each 225 points
for the season. Each also recorded
five wins and three runner-up fin-
ishes this year. So, the tie-breaker
came down to throwaways, and
Megla's sixth-place throwaway was
better than the DNS that Bland re-
corded when he missed a round with
a broken arm. Thus, Megla retained
his championship though he'll con-
centrate on big bikes next year. Third
in class for the year went to Hayden
Hintz.
(Above)Braydon
Bland (left) won
the Super Mini
class but Jarett
Megla (center)
won the class
championship
for the year.
continued on next page
