VOL. 53 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 15, 2016 P31
championship locked up and
didn't need to even take part,
the racer in him refused to settle
for a mediocre result so he put
his desert skills to good use on
the 18-mile-long loop, quickly
working through the dust and
into second place after only a
few miles.
"Nick ended up catching me
about mile five or six; it was
pretty quick," Pearson recalled.
"From then on, we were pretty
close all the way until probably
lap three or four, then I think he
had a little spoke problem."
Indeed, Burson had just start-
ed the last lap on his Kenda/
FMF/6D Helmets 480 RR when
he heard a disconcerting noise
while hitting the first drainage
pipe on the EnduroCross portion
of the loop right out of the pits.
After stopping to remove two
broken spokes, he continued
but at a slower pace in order to
salvage what he could, though
he had enough of a gap on third-
place Morgan to give Purvines
Racing Beta its 1-2. Pearson
completed six laps in two hours,
51 minutes and 36 seconds, with
Burson taking the checkered
flag in 2:55:28.
Morgan rode a consistent
pace to third in 2:58:04 aboard
his GPR Stabilizer/BRP/MSR
YZ450F before jumping into his
truck for the drive south to take
part in the Baja 1000.
Bonita rode his Galfer/Pit Pro/
Klim YZ450F and his fourth place
in 2:58:26 proved to be his best
result of the season other than
his win at round four in the woods
of Shasta, California.
Bush held on to claim a best-
to-date fifth in 3:08:33 followed
by Open A winner Gavin McCar-
thy, FMF Pro 250 winner Taylor
Stevens, 250cc A winner Logan
Lee, 200cc A winner Ryan
Karell and Pro Curtis Bradley.
Mark Kariya
OVERALL
1. Axel Pearson (Bet)
2. Nick Burson (Bet)
3. Justin Morgan (Yam)
4. Justin Bonita (Yam)
5. Damon Bush (Bet)
(Above) MRAN women's champ
Krista Conway (pictured) battled
Sharon Mowell all morning, finally
making a pass near the end to get
the Women A win. (Below) Hagen
Boyce got the holeshot and stayed
out front to easily win the combined
Big Wheel/Mini/Micro Mini/Girls/
Junior Girls race.