VOL. 54 ISSUE 24 JUNE 20, 2017 P49
was right on his butt, but I hit his
back tire and ended up crash-
ing."
Still recovering from injury,
Robby Bell held off Travis Da-
mon to snag the fourth spot.
With Damon charging on the
final lap, Bell sailed through the
endurocross section to net the
top five.
"To be honest, I got a little
tired at the end," said Bell.
"Thankfully I had enough to hold
off Travis because he's a bulldog
late [in the race]. On the final
lap, I just sent it through the en-
durocross. I was either going to
crash or make it through. I made
it through and finished fourth."
Sutherlin experienced cool-
ing system issues right at the
start on his Yamaha. After pitting
and changing the radiator, he
charged hard and held onto the
points lead going into the sum-
mer break. Though not happy
with the results, he is ready
to finish strong in the last two
races.
"On the first lap, we had an
issue with coolant steaming out
of the radiator cap," said Suther-
lin. "After that it was trying to stay
up there until the pits opened.
It took some time to change a
radiator and that ruined my day.
Championships are won on
your worst day. We still have the
points lead and we have seven
weeks to bust our butts to get
everything bike-wise and rider-
wise ready. We're going to push
harder than ever in the last two
races. We're not giving up hope,
that's for sure."
In Pro 2, Kyle Mercier won his
first race of the season. Riding a
KTM, Mercier charged from the
start and was challenging points
leader Dante Oliveira for the lead
when a flat tire slowed Oliveira,
handing the lead and the victory
a hard charger and then he
made a mistake on the last
lap. I got a little buffer and
rode my own race from there.
I've been itching to get a po-
dium here and I'm just blessed
to get this one."
Thompson also grew up
near Glen Helen in Phelan,
California. He made up time
during the second half of the
race and was gaining on Stew-
art before he crashed on the
final lap.
"I had problems in the endu-
rocross on the first four laps,"
said Thompson. "I started
gaining on it on the last five
laps. I got a run on Trevor and
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
HARLEN
FOLEY
Kyle Mercier topped the Pro 2 class.
