Cycle News

SERIES VOL. 52 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 27, 2015 P73 My Own Race: 4 AXEL PEARSON 4TH O/A Purvines Racing Beta's Axel Pearson seemed to have a lonely day riding by himself most of the race on his Motul/ FMF/Klim-backed 480 RR. "I had a decent start; I started right next to Ivan," Pearson said. "We both kind of went back and forth all the way to the [bomb]. We were both top 10, about 10th I'd guess. Then we worked our way up to sixth or seventh and I was able to get back by him. I passed a couple other guys pretty quick, I think Max Eddy and Ryan Smith and a couple other guys. So I got up to fifth. The first loop went good. I ended up catching Gary [Sutherlin] and Skyler [Howes] a little. I came into the pits pretty close to them and I was able to pass Skyler in the pits, of course. Heading into the second loop, my rear brake faded a couple times and I had a couple tip-overs. The third loop, I could still see someone's dust so I'm like, 'I can charge and maybe catch him,' and I ended up crashing pretty good off a downhill out there so after that I'm like, 'I'm just going to cruise back.' After racing back-to-back days, he insisted, "I felt more tired yesterday than I do today." X146 DALTON SHIREY 6TH O/A, 1ST FMF 250CC PRO Zip-Ty Racing Husqvarna's Dalton Shirey did double duty on the weekend and won the FMF 250cc Pro class in both the Hare Scrambles and H&H aboard his Torco/Pro Circuit/Troy Lee Designs TE 250. His biggest problem? Running low on energy in the hare scrambles due to "insuf- ficient caloric intake." "Today I woke up and ate enough food this time. I got hungry yesterday. Today, I was perfect almost the whole way. Being tall, my back gets sore from leaning over going across the desert, but that's about it. I felt like I got a pretty bad start [today], but close to the end of the first loop I saw Ivan sitting right there in front of me for a while, then I got close to him [but] I fell over. I got up and worked my way back. Ivan got by Skyler and it took me a while to get by Skyler." 450 IVAN RAMIREZ 7TH O/A, 6TH PRO "It wasn't too bad for me [knowing I just had to get a decent finish to wrap up the championship]," Ramirez said. "At first I was trying to make a good line on the bomb, but it was kind of sketchy. I don't like pinning it through the bushes in the dust so I didn't get a good start and everybody was pinning it, so I'm like, 'Just get a top 10 start and just ride.' The first loop was fast and kind of dusty. At a check I heard I was seventh place so I'm like, 'Okay, just be smart and patient.' At the same time, I think I enjoyed it a little bit more than when I'm at race speed. I was actually enjoying riding and kind of flowing, just like trail riding. Also, I didn't want to hurt the bike." 5 JUSTIN MORROW 11TH O/A, 9TH PRO Former Purvines Racing Beta rider Justin Morrow has been absent all year, his job as foreman in a construction company getting in the way of racing. "In January at the first round of the Hare and Hounds, I just stopped racing. I worked too much, my results were going downhill and I was tired all the time," he said. "I just came out here for fun to see if I could still do it and decided to break out the KX250 (the same 2007 two-stroke he won the 250cc Expert Championship with in 2009). It treated me well de- spite no stabilizer, no nothing! I just had fun. Maybe I'll get back into it next year. We'll see."

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