VOL. 55 ISSUE 17 MAY 1, 2018 P29
race, and I'm happy with second
place," said Redondi. "Taylor
is the man to beat, and we are
close. This course is completely
new to me. I've never ridden in
the dunes. I gained some points
and I'm looking forward to the
next race."
Sutherlin missed the first-cor-
ner melee on his Suzuki, choos-
ing a different line and taking
the early lead. Unfortunately, he
misjudged the shifting sand in a
rock section and crashed. Brake
problems further hampered
his charge, and he was happy
to hang on to finish third and
remain second in points.
"I didn't get the best start,
but when everyone went right, I
went left and pulled five seconds
into the lead," said Sutherlin. "I
[then] jumped this rock sec-
tion and went head over heels.
I messed the bike up a little bit
and had sand in the muffler. I
was seventh and caught back up
to third."
Riding a borrowed Yamaha,
Wallis enjoyed the battle of attri-
tion and the sketchy conditions.
Though he crashed three times
during the race, he managed to
finish fourth.
"If I could have stayed off
the ground, I would have done
a lot better," quipped Wallis. "I
think I wore myself out in the
three wrecks I ended up in. The
course is gnarly, but this is my
style of racing."
Damon crashed hard at the
start and was down over a min-
ute before getting back on his
Honda. He made it back through
the field to finish fifth, his best
result yet this season.
In Pro 2, Serpa scored his
first win of the season. The KTM
rider got out to a bad start, and
was losing ground fast. After his
pit stop, he made his way past
Cooper Abbott, Clay Hengeveld
and Mitch Anderson to score the
victory.
"I don't think I ever touched
first place until the second-to-
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
HARLEN
FOLEY
Austin Serpa scored his first Pro 2 win of the year.
