VOL. 54 ISSUE 25 JUNE 27, 2017 P49
Running into a tree later (re-
sulting in a broken radiator and
shifter as well as a hurting mid-
section) didn't help and he put it
into survival mode to finish eighth
overall, sixth Pro/AA.
Even without those issues,
Burson admitted, "I don't think I
had anything for the win today."
Indeed, no one matched
the pace Gerston set on his
Beta 390 RR as he led every
lap—which surprised the Arizona
native after a hard week working
in the sun. "Waking up this morn-
ing, I felt blah," he revealed. "I
just wasn't able to get things go-
ing. All the way up to the race and
kind of even through the race, I
[felt that way].
"Maybe that's what did the trick
because you couldn't get greedy
out here. You had to take your
time and be patient so maybe
my patient riding style, I guess,
maybe the track suited it a little
bit.
"I guess I was better at riding
this stuff than I thought I was!"
Fiasconaro experienced a
horrible dead-last start when his
Six Five O Racing EC 300 balked
at the dead-engine start. "I kind
of knew I had to pick through
some people on the motocross
track before we got into the
single-track because I knew there
wasn't going to be another op-
portunity to pass," he said. That
got him up to 10th at the end of
the first lap, and he continued to
make up ground: sixth after two
laps, third after three and finally
up to second after four. "I just
kept it smooth and steady the
whole race and kept the mistakes
minimal and just kept picking
people off."
He added, "It was a different
race. You couldn't really ride fast
or push or you would make a lot
of mistakes. You just had to stay
steady and consistent."
Hesitant to even enter since
he'd never ridden a National-
caliber race, Tonsgard ended up
glad he did aboard his Frank's
Motorbikes/Golden Tire/Fly
Racing Beta 250 RR. "It was a
lot of fun; it was gnarly, though,"
he observed. "I got a pretty good
start so I just tried to maintain.
I dropped back a little bit then
caught back up to Axel and Nick.
I was like, 'I'll just keep pace with
them,' and eventually I got around
them and put my head down and
charged."
The course apparently suited
250s. Early on, SRT Husqvarna's
J.T. Baker appeared to be on
his way to his fifth FMF Pro 250
triumph, as he got up to third
overall from the class' second-
row start.
However, a bent chain guide
and sprocket put him into the
pits for a long, unplanned stop
allowing Clayton Gerstner to
quickly take over aboard his Tri-
City Cycles YZ250F. He ended
up taking his first class win and
fourth overall ahead of Brocker,
FMF Pro 250 runner-up Ryan
Turner, Pearson, Burson, third
FMF Pro 250 Cole Conatser and
Open A winner Devin Shueler.
Mark Kariya
1. Max Gerston (Bet)
2. Joey Fiasconaro (GG)
3. Joel Tonsgard (Bet)
4. Clayton Gerstner (Yam)
5. Danny Brocker (Hon)
6. Ryan Turner (Yam)
7. Axel Pearson (Yam)
8. Nick Burson (Yam)
9. Cole Conatser (KTM)
10. Devin Schueler (Yam)
When class points
leader J.T. Baker had
to fix a bent chain
guide and sprocket,
Clayton Gerstner
took advantage and
motored to his first-
ever FMF Pro 250
win over Ryan Turner
and Cole Conatser.
