VOL. 52 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 10, 2015 P21
seat and on his way to second in
the series—but it didn't last long.
He pulled to the side of the trail,
his Precision Concepts/Kenda/
Klim 480 RR apparently unable
to continue. Coy said, "I came
around on that second lap and I
saw someone sitting over on the
side [of the trail] and I quickly no-
ticed it was [Burson]. About that
same time I smelled fried clutch.
That's a bummer; Nick's a good
guy and a great competitor."
From that point, Burson's
teammate Axel Pearson took
over on his Motion Pro/AME
Grips/6D Helmets 480 RR as
he sped to what would be his
first big win, though it didn't
improve his year-end fourth in
points.
"I just tried to ride my own
race," he said. But when he
started the third and final lap
around the 28-mile loop, the set-
ting sun made it hard to see.
"I just backed it off to 80
percent because I couldn't see.
I didn't want to make a mistake
and throw it away so I just rode
smooth. I could've pinned it a
little bit harder and I probably
should've because I think I only
won by four seconds, they said."
Justin Wallis closed fast
after starting on the second
row aboard his Dynamic Dirt
Suspension/Fasst Co./DA8
Training KTM 450 XC-F. "It was
super-dusty; I had to take a lot
of chances [to catch up to the
leaders]," he said. "I had to try
to make jumps out of hills out
there."
Wallis indeed clocked in
just four seconds slower than
Pearson with Coy just over two
minutes back.
LG Electric Yamaha-mounted
Ryan Smith equaled his best
series finish in fourth followed by
series newcomer Jeremy New-
ton, the FMF 250cc Pro winner.
Thor Amador, FMF 250cc Pro
runner-up Nick Stover, AMRA
AA winner Ryan Kudla and FMF
250cc Pros Mitch Anderson and
Clayton Gerstner rounded out
the top 10 overall.
Mark Kariya
(Above) Axel Pearson led the last
half of the race for his first major
victory. (Below) Second place
behind Ava Silvestri was good
enough to lock up the Girls-class
Championship for Baylee Rhodes.
