same thing happened again, ap-
parently the silt penetrating the
filter and killing the engine.
But there was no holding Hart
back. He said, "I finally got into
my groove and I picked them off
one at a time in the less dusty
sections. I finally got Max on the
third lap on a sneaky line—it was
pretty sick; I liked it!"
After a big get-off while prac-
ticing at a local motocross track
a few weeks ago, Gerston was
far from 100 percent, so being
up front on his FMF/Motul/Klim
390 RR surprised quite a few.
"I just kind of rode smart and
just kept moving forward, and I
didn't push too hard, but I just
pushed as hard as I could within
what my body would let me and
here we are. I'm okay with it,"
he said. "I was in pain, but as
soon as I'd get a little bit greedy
with my riding, my body would
go, 'Easy!' It actually worked out
because this track's pretty rough
so my injuries really forced me
to find smooth lines because
I couldn't afford to get jacked
or hit a rock that I didn't see or
anything like that."
On the other hand, Purvines
DA8 Racing Yamaha's Nick
Burson, his championship rival,
endured a frustrating day where
nothing seemed to go right. "I
had a good start, then no one
stayed on the course," he said,
"though they were undoubtedly
trying to get out of the dust. I lost
like five spots there. I ate crap
up here on the ridge the very
first lap in the dust; just silt ruts
everywhere. I battled with some
guys and caught back up to [Jus-
tin] Bonita and those guys, then
that rock hill section they had, a
lapper took me out and his bike
was on top of mine, and I was
stuck there for five minutes."
In the FMF Pro 250 division,
Clayton Gerstner was first to the
checkered flag aboard his new
KTM 250 XC, but he received
a five-minute penalty, officials
saying he exceeded the speed
limit in the scoring chute. That
moved SRT Husqvarna-mounted
J.T. Baker to first, his fifth victory
of the season, with Gerstner
demoted to second and Cole
Conatser third aboard his EMT
Racing KTM 250 XC.
Mark Kariya
IN
THE
WIND
P38
Kacy Martinez-Coy
dominated the Sunday
morning race, not only
winning Women A but
taking the race overall by a
substantial margin as well.
