what I ride so this really suited
my style."
Each lap around the approxi-
mately 11-mile course saw him
inch further away from the field
with round-five winner Devan Bo-
lin coming from a horrible start to
claim second, five minutes and
20 seconds behind Hart who
finished in two hours, 41 minutes
and 30 seconds. Beta's Max
Gerston also suffered from a
poor start and had to work hard
to claim the third spot on the
podium in 2:48:08. Last year's
winner at the inaugural Toasted
Hare Scramble, Gerston surren-
dered a few more points to Hart,
who now leads the series with
152 points, Gerston now second
with 110 and FMF/Maxxis/RPM
Racing KTM's Dante Oliveira
(absent due to a knee injury) tied
for third with GasGas-mounted
Travis Coy—who finished fourth a
minute behind Gerston—at 96.
Hart's SRT Husqvarna team-
mate J.T. Baker nailed the start
aboard his Motul/Fasst Co./Sidi
TC 250 with Hart sliding in right
behind, though that didn't last
long.
"He let me by on the first lap
somewhere, and then I just put
my head down and charged,"
Hart said. "It was really slippery
out there! If it wasn't dusty and
silty, it was wet slick so it was
crazy!"
The SRT Husky duo ran a
solid 1-2, while Cycle Barn
Kawasaki's Corey Floyd held a
strong third for the first half of
the race before he retired.
But there was no stopping
Bolin, who stormed through the
field on his Gray Area KTM/
Dick's Racing/Hammer Nutri-
tion 350 XC-F. "I put in the best
charge I could—just too little, too
late—disappointing," he said.
"I felt like if I was up there with
Trystan, I could run with him, but
when he gets a lead like that,
he's way too talented and you're
never going to catch up, in my
opinion."
For Gerston, there'd be no
repeat of last year when he
broke through to nab his first
triumph of the series en route to
the championship, and it came
down entirely to the start where
he was one of the last away.
"I definitely didn't make it easy
on myself," Gerston said. "Man,
I think this year there's just a
lot more competition; I mean,
there's so many fast dudes! It
used to be the fourth through
eighth guys, you could get by
them pretty easy, but now it's
like every one of those dudes is
super, super-fast and fit. It kind
of came down to fitness for me."
After flirting with a podium
spot, Coy seemed to be un-
able to stay off the ground the
last few laps and had to settle
for fourth aboard his Six Five O
Racing/Nor Cal Motorsports
XC 300, five seconds ahead of
Baker who developed cramps
later in the race.
TBT Racing YZ250-mounted
Ryan Turner, SRT Husqvarna's
Clayton Gerstner, Joel Tonsgard
on a Beta 300 RR, Six Five
O Racing Gas Gas rider Zane
Roberts and FMF Pro 250 win-
ner Dillon Sheppard on his 707
Racing YZ250FX rounded out
the top 10 overall.
In the morning race, local
favorite Maria Forsberg and
her FMF/Maxxis/RPM Racing
KTM barely held off close friend
Allyson Tonsgard for the win in
Women A. After just over two
VOL. 55 ISSUE 25 JUNE 26, 2018 P39
Things couldn't have
gone much better
for Trystan Hart, who
led from the first lap
to the finish.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
