VOL. 54 ISSUE 11 MARCH 21, 2017 P37
little bit, but he was definitely on
the gas. At that point, I figured,
'Well, he's really getting after
it and I don't want to push and
take myself out on the first bit.' I
kind of learned the track a little
bit then I started turning it up,
but by then he was gonzo so it
was tough at that point [to make
up any ground]."
Burson's teammate Pearson
had a pretty good start and
found himself running in the top
five early, right behind series
points leader Joey Fiasconaro's
IRC Tires/Six Five O Racing
tom Shutters and Blinds/O'Neal
YZ450FX flying—but only after
a somewhat lackluster first hour
when he seemingly had no
energy.
But Smith shook off the blahs
to charge over the last half of
the race, climbing from eighth
to sixth with two laps to go,
then passing two more before
the white flag and finishing a
strong fourth ahead of Fiasco-
naro. Troy Vanscourt enjoyed
his best finish to date, claiming
sixth on his Garrett Off-Road
Racing CRF450X, a slim three
seconds ahead of first-time FMF
Pro 250 winner Cole Conatser.
Steven Godman, Trystan Hart
and 250cc A winner Gabe Ellis
rounded out the top 10 overall.
Mark Kariya
OVERALL
1. Nick Burson (Yam)
2. Max Gerston (Bet)
3. Axel Pearson (Yam)
4. Ryan Smith (Yam)
5. Joey Fiasconaro (Gas)
6. Troy Vanscourt (Hon)
7. Cole Conatser (KTM)
8. Steven Godman (KTM)
9. Trystan Hart (Hus))
10. Gabe Ellis (KTM)
Fourth at round two,
Cole Conatser didn't
get the best start but
took the lead early
and went on to win the
FMF Pro 250 class,
finishing an impressive
seventh overall.
Big Wheel champ
Mason Matthies
backed up his
runaway win at
round two with
another dominant
performance at
Gorman.
GasGas EC 300.
Pearson worked his way up,
passed Fiasconaro and was into
third place to stay just over an
hour into the race.
After spending time with TBT
Racing during the week to get
new suspension settings, Ryan
Smith had his SRT/Rick's Cus-
