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/979046
VOL. 55 ISSUE 18 MAY 8, 2018 P49 dusty. So, common wisdom dic- tated getting a great start and be- ing the one making dust. Purvines Racing Yamaha's Nick Burson, SRT Husqvarna's Ryan Smith and Pro Circuit Honda-mounted Ken- dall Norman led the pack into the first loop of 40 miles. Robert, on the other hand, found himself buried in the dust when his Red Bull/Motorex/Troy Lee Designs 450 XC-F balked when the banner dropped. "My bike didn't fire [right away] and it was a complete white-out," he said. "I couldn't see five feet in front of me. I was going down the [bomb run] like third gear, half throttle, maybe." Norman quickly went into the lead on his Saunders Family/ Renthal/Alpinestars CRF450X de- spite not being 100 percent after crashing while practicing the week before and injuring a thumb, mak- ing it extremely hard to hold on. "Every mile [today], I was just trying to survive it," he said. "I was figuring, 'I don't know how long I can last [up front at that pace],' but I was trying my hardest to do it as long as possible. I just didn't have much strength in my throttle hand." Somehow, Robert had punched through the dust and put himself into second behind the 2010 series champ and current points leader, though he was a minute and 16 seconds behind Norman at the end of the first loop. But Robert kept pushing and eventually caught sight of Norman's dust, reeling him in and then applying pressure until the Honda rider made a couple mistakes and went down, twice. That was all Robert needed and he completed the 40-mile second loop the clear-cut winner, com- pleting the race in two hours, 33 minutes and 30 seconds. Burson also homed in on the ail- ing Norman despite being sick. He rewarded himself with second—his third consecutive podium finish— some 3:23 behind Robert, while Norman made his fifth podium in third place. Norman remains atop the points with 126, Burson making up a little ground and sitting second at 107 with Robert third at 90 and closing. Smith held on to take fourth—ty- ing his career best to date—fol- lowed by FMF Pro 250 winner Josh Knight on his Mom and Dad/ ADS Motorsports/Fly Racing KTM 250 XC. Remarkably, the Utah native ran out of fuel with about a couple hundred yards to go and had to push it through the sage and sand to preserve his win. Second FMF Pro 250 and sixth overall went to Economy Floor/ Woolslayer Racing's Daemon Woolslayer, a couple minutes ahead of SRT Husqvarna's Clayton Gerstner. Beta's Chance Fullerton was third FMF Pro 250 and eighth overall to preserve his class points lead over Woolslayer, 136-115. Morgan Crawford, Mark Tichenor and Kyle Tichenor rounded out the top 10 overall. Brandy Richards won Women A for the third consecutive round aboard her Bell Helmets KTM ahead of Rachel Stout and Britney Gallegos. Gallegos saw her class points lead cut to one over Stout, 97-96, while third-place Richards closes in with 90. Mark Kariya OVERALL 1. Taylor Robert (KTM) 2. Nick Burson (Yam) 3. Kendall Norman (Hon) 4. Ryan Smith (Hus) 5. Josh Knight (KTM) 6. Daemon Woolslayer (Yam) 7. Clayton Gerstner (Hus) 8. Chance Fullerton (Bet) 9. Morgan Crawford (Hus) 10. Kyle Tichenor (Yam) California's Waylon Honnold got the lead in the Pee Wee race early and managed to stay ahead of class points leader Grady Ballow the rest of the way for the win.