VOL. 55 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 27, 2018 P45
ken left arm and right wrist.)
"I knew that if I could get a
good start, I'd be able to hold my
own, especially out here in this
open desert, because it's so fast
and it's so much like Baja and I
have a lot of experience there,
so I was just really fortunate to
get a solid start and get out and
get some clean air," Pro Circuit/
Renthal/Alpinestars CRF450X-
mounted Norman said.
Combined with his third-place
finish at round one, Norman
now finds himself the points
leader after two rounds with 51,
Chidester Transport Racing Ya-
maha's Jacob Argubright sitting
second at 41 after placing fifth
on the day and Shirey a close
third at 40 points.
"I would've never expected
that coming in," Norman said. "I
was hoping that about midsea-
son I would peak and be on my
'A' game so I'll just keep chug-
ging away."
Shirey hadn't raced at the
Superstition Off-Highway Vehicle
Area before and the Motorex/
Braking/Fly Racing FX 450
rider admitted, "Once my eyes
adapted to going that fast, I was
able to charge."
On the 33-mile second loop,
Shirey also found himself in his
first foray into Superstition's fa-
mous sand dunes as well as the
super-technical rocky canyons
north of the dunes that the club
sent riders through. "I didn't
expect that at all because I went
riding around here [on Friday]
and I was like, 'There can't be
that much technical around
here," he said. "It completely
surprised me."
Third-place finisher Morgan
agreed. Though he lives fairly
close and rides the area fre-
quently, he said, "They do such
a good job running all the hard
stuff [on the second loop]; it's
awesome how they link it to-
gether. Some stuff I've never
seen before and I ride here all
the time!"
The San Diego Powerhouse/
Precision Concepts/Thor
CRF450X-mounted rider added,
"I got off to a pretty bad start—
it was one of those five-kick
starts—and I ended up coming in
Though he'd never raced
the Superstition area
before, Chance Fullerton
got a good start and won
the FMF Pro 250 class.
