VOL. 55 ISSUE 18 MAY 8, 2018 P29
Reigning series champ (and
the points leader coming into the
weekend) Zach Bell initially held a
solid third aboard his 3 Bros./STI
Husqvarna, but about 40 minutes
in, he reportedly began having an
electrical problem that eventually
took him out of the race, a disap-
pointing setback for the champ
going into the summer break. He
was credited with 13th Pro and
25th overall.
Kailub Russell had a solid race
aboard his Red Bull/Motorex/Troy
Lee Designs 450 XC-F. "I've been
riding really good at these—I've
just put myself in bad positions at
the beginning of every single one
of them and today was no differ-
ent," Russell said. "But I was able
to fight through and keep it off the
ground and pick some guys off at
the end. I started catching [Stew-
art and Thompson] and just kind of
went flat the last lap and a half and
couldn't really bridge the gap and
ran out of time."
After a season full of bad
breaks, Gary Sutherlin finally put
that behind him and finished fourth
aboard his Hatch Racing/Yo-
shimura/Thor-backed RMX450Z,
just 14 seconds behind Russell's
1:36:50.
"The Big 6 has not been very
good to me this year; we DNFed
three of the four rounds coming
into this so this weekend was all
about getting a solid finish, work-
ing on keeping the RMX progress-
ing for WORCS where I still have a
chance at the title there," Sutherlin
said. "I had a little issue with my
hands coming apart about halfway
through and that wasn't much fun."
Monster Energy/Lava Propane
Honda rider Derek Kelly also
enjoyed a season-best finish with
his fifth place followed by Justin
Seeds, Mark Samuels, Justin Wal-
lis, Clay Hengeveld (the WCGP
Pro II winner for the fourth time)
and Nick Burson.
Mark Kariya
WCGP PRO
1. Trevor Stewart (Hon)
2. Blayne Thompson (Kaw)
3. Kailub Russell (KTM)
4. Gary Sutherlin (Suz)
5. Derek Kelley (Hon)
Like Stewart in the WCGP Pros,
Brandy Richards dominated the
WCGP Women Pro race for her
fourth straight victory.
(Below) Fourth off the start, Clay
Hengeveld didn't stay there for long,
passing the rest of the WCGP Pro II
racers and going on for his third win
in a row and fourth this season.
