Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/944493
IN THE WIND P56 rider 58 seconds ahead of SRT Husqvarna's Trystan Hart and 2:33 ahead of FMF/Maxxis/RPM Racing KTM's Dante Oliveira. "Well, I'm not going to lie!" Robert laughed. "They put up a healthy purse, a cool trophy, they put a lot of effort into the event and it's only an hour and a half from my house, so it's kind of a no-brainer. I didn't have any races this weekend and [wanted to] make a few thousand dollars instead of sitting on the couch." Robert pocket $3000 of the big purse. After battling with Gerston throughout the first lap and crash- ing a couple times, FX 350-mount- ed Hart made a pass stick and pulled away, though he couldn't quite match Robert's pace. "I've been staying in Arizona since about January," the Cana- dian (who hasn't committed to racing the entire series yet) said. "I know from last year, my weak- ness is going fast in the desert or Gorman and all that so I've been practicing. I've definitely seen an improvement. I still like the tighter stuff, but I'm definitely getting bet- ter in the fast stuff." Series regular Oliveira made his way to third less than 90 minutes into the race aboard his Nor-Cal Motorsports/Motion Pro/Klim 450 XC-F. "I tried to chase down Taylor Robert and Trystan Hart, but I had nothing for them," he admitted. "I started riding my own race, then Kendall Norman started catching me and he got pretty close to me quite a few times so I just tried to race as hard as I could to the finish." Norman did get close on his CRF450X but had to settle for fourth, just 21 seconds behind Oliveira in terrain quite unlike his usual fare of hare & hound Nationals. "It was fun," Norman said, "but with the high elevation I wasn't able to get my bike perfect- ly tuned and I wasn't able to get a good start so I was dead last, but I just kept grinding and grinding and trying to have fun and ended up fourth so it was all right." Gerston, Chidester Trans- port Racing Yamaha's Jacob Argubright, GasGas rider Noah Kepple, Coy, Monster Energy Honda-mounted Ricky Dietrich and SRT Husqvarna rider Clayton Gerstner rounded out the top 10 overall. The FMF Pro 250 class started on the front line with the Open Pros, and Chaparral Motorsports/ Precision Concepts Kawasaki's Clay Hengeveld took top honors, also carding 12th overall. "By the end of the first lap I was in second [behind Gray Area KTM's Jeremy Wilton] so I made the pass on the next lap and we came out on top with the win," Hengeveld said after finishing 12th overall. FMF/Maxxis/RPM Racing KTM's Spenser Wilton grabbed second for good on the second lap, ending up 47 seconds and 14th overall behind Hengeveld. Brother Jeremy claimed third in class and 26th overall. Mark Kariya OVERALL 1. Taylor Robert (KTM) 2. Trystan Hart (Hus) 3. Dante Oliveira (KTM) 4. Kendall Norman (Hon) 5. Max Gerston (Bet) 6. Jacob Argubright (Hus) 7. Noah Kepple (Gas) 8. Travis Coy (Gas) 9. Ricky Dietrich (Hon) 10. Glayton Gerstner (Hus) The Women A's split a $1250 purse, with Brandy Richards (pictured) earning the majority of it over Shelby Turner and Nicole Bradford.