IN
THE
WIND
P36
YORBA BACK ON TOP WITH WCGP WIN
T
he two keys to winning a
race at the Twentynine Palms
round of the AMA District 37/
MSR Big 6 Grand Prix Series:
get a good start and don't get
a flat. That was the recipe for
success for RPM KTM Maxxis
rider Eric Yorba, who was happy
to celebrate his first West Coast
Grand Prix (WCGP) win since
2014. It also worked out for
Pro II winner Mitch Anderson
and Women's Pro winner Gina
Alvarez who celebrated victories
at round four of the Big 6 GP
series where the fast, sweeping
and inevitably dusty course at
the 29 Palms Motorsports Com-
plex presented a stiff challenge.
"I knew the start would be key
in the race with how fast and
wide open it was," said Yorba.
"I was able to grab the holeshot
and with the dust being a huge
factor I was able to open up a
pretty comfortable gap on the
first lap.
The hour-and-a-half race was
a rather short story for Yorba,
who was never headed as he
steamed toward the checkered
flag. A late-race charge by
Robby Bell might have made
things interesting, as the Rocky
Mountain ATV*MC/Precision
Concepts Kawasaki rider inherit-
ed second place after Jeff Loop
pulled out with a flat tire and
started to close in on the leader.
But Bell ran out of time and had
to settle for second place.
"I know Robby was push-
ing hard," Yorba continued. "It
would have been a close one
had we gone another lap."
"I was inching on Eric," Bell
said. "Getting up to him was one
thing but passing him with this
dust would have been some-
thing completely different. One
more lap might have made it
interesting but second place is a
good ride."
After his misfortune at Glen
Helen (where he ran out of gas
while leading), Blayne Thomp-
son improved his results with a
After going
without a win in
2015, Eric Yorba
got back on top
of the podium in
Twentynine Palms,
taking the WCGP
Pro win.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JEAN
TURNER
