to finish fourth ahead of Scorpa
USA's Quinn Wentzel with 88
and Alex Niederer's brother, An-
dreas, riding for Beta USA, with
99 points.
Smage kept his hot streak
going on Sunday by cleaning the
entire first lap. Smage added
more of the same on the second
lap, and entered the third and
final lap with a real chance of
cleaning the entire event. That
notion was quickly squelched
in the second section when a
rock that Smage was using to
launch up a giant ledge became
dislodged, sending the Sherco
rider to the ground.
Smage remounted and
cleaned the remaining 10 sec-
tions, finishing the day with a
grand total of five points for win
number two on the season.
"At least it didn't cost me the
win," Smage said about the five
in section two. "I was in a pretty
good zone all day. [Section two]
was just one of those things that
happens."
Niederer got the jump on
Blanc-Gonnet on Sunday, bet-
tering his rival's score by three
points on the first lap and by four
points on lap two. Blanc-Gonnet
was able to make up three of
those points on the final lap, but
it was not enough to beat his
teammate and Niederer claimed
the runner-up slot with a total of
26 points. The finish marked the
Florida resident's best finish in
the pro class.
Blanc-Gonnet settled for third
with a total of 30, while Fastle
and Andreas Niederer rounded
out the top five with 55 and 79
points, respectively.
Quinn Wentzel was sixth with
80 points.
Shan Moore
SATURDAY
1. Pat Smage (Shr) 13
2. Daniel Blanc-Gonnet (GG) 46
3. Alex Niederer (GG) 50
4. Sam Fastle (Shr) 73
5. Quinn Wentzel (Sco) 88
6. Andreas Niederer (Bet) 99
SUNDAY
1. Pat Smage (Shr) 5
2. Alex Niederer (GG) 26
3. Daniel Blanc-Gonnet (GG) 30
4. Sam Fastle (Shr) 55
5. Andreas Niederer (Bet) 79
6. Quinn Wentzel (Sco) 80
VOL. 55 ISSUE 16 APRIL 24, 2018 P33
Daniel Blanc-Gonnet took
second place on Saturday.
Alex Niederer (pictured) and Blanc-
Gonnet battled all weekend for
runner-up honors.
