Ox Motorsports Honda’s Colton Udall collected his third win of the season in the West Coast GP feature race at the Shamrocks Big 6 Grand Prix in Primm, Nevada. Photography by Jean Turner
AMA District 37 racers headed to the Stateline at Primm, Nevada for the 29th Annual Shamrocks GP, round five of the MSR Big 6 Grand Prix Series, where Ox Motorsports/MSR rider Colton Udall helped himself to another big win in the West Coast Grand Prix.
Defending WCGP champion Eric Yorba was back on form for the Shamrocks GP. The Maxxis RPM KTM rider put forth a valiant effort in Saturday’s feature event, but couldn’t hold off Udall. Although Yorba led the opening laps of the race, Udall was “like a tractor,” and pushed his way forward by keeping his lap times steady. The pair swapped the lead back and forth a few times before Udall took it for good and rode to his third win of the season.
“That’s the way I train, I guess,” Udall said. “I need to start doing sprints so I can get out there sooner, but if I’m patient, it all ends the same.”
It wasn’t an easy ride for Udall, who had an uphill battle from the first lap after his goggles got thoroughly soaked.
“They watered the heck out of the first turn and doused my goggles,” said Udall. “I got water down in every tear-off – it was a little excessive. But I got a decent start. I knew it was a long race and I had to pick some guys off. I had some good lines that a lot of people didn’t have and I was trying to keep my momentum.”
Yorba appeared to be on his way to the big win in the opening laps of the race as he started to pull away from the pack, but one crash quickly cost him his advantage.
“I got the holeshot and led for maybe 40 minutes,” Yorba explained. “Then I tucked the front end at the end of the truck course and Colton was able to close right up on me. We had a little battle going and he got around me in the rocks, and then I caught up to him in the motocross section. I led for another maybe 20 minutes and then Colton got by me here toward the end and I came away with second.”
Eric Yorba (right), Colton Udall (center) and Ryan Reina (left) show off their new hardware on the Pro podium. Photography by Jean Turner
Behind them, the battle for third was nearly as intense as Ryan Reina duked it out with Justin Seeds. Reina, who has been steadily gaining momentum throughout the season, proved to be the quicker rider in the end, placing his FMF/John Burr Cycles Kawasaki on the Pro podium.
“It took me a while to get back into riding shape after taking the last three years off but now that I’m back, I’m more confident now,” Reina said. “During the race I got a horrible start. I bogged real bad and got buried in the pack. I ended up going down on the first lap, as well. I had to work my way back up again and had a good battle with Justin [Seeds]. We were swapping back and forth. I knew it was going to come down to who had great lines. Even though I did a few nac-nacs through the turns, I ended up pulling it out, so it was good.”
Podium regular Blayne Thompson was forced to use his throwaway at round five after suffering a broken arm, but the Husqvarna rider now has four months to return to fighting shape as the series heads into its summer break.
In the Pro II class, 3 Brothers Racing KTM’s Nick Stover took top honors, followed by Mitch Anderson and Rowan Trefz.
The Women’s class saw a cameo by four-time WMX champion and 2-time X Games gold medalist Ashley Fiolek. In her first race since 2012, Fiolek raced a Husqvarna TC 125 in the Women’s Expert class. She was a little outgunned on the fast sandy course by the big 450 of Britney Gallegos, but she rode to a strong second-place finish as she and Gallegos turned blisteringly fast laps on the eight-mile course.
The staff of MSR – title sponsor of the Big 6 GP Series – rallied for the Shamrocks GP, making a big showing with entries in several classes, including Paul Perebijnos who took the Vet Heavyweight Expert win.
After a string of podium finishes this season, Jerry Black finally got his first win in the Magnum Heavyweight Expert class. Sunday’s Senior race saw a bit of drama as Paul Krause and Richard Pratt squared off for the lead. The battle ended quickly when Krause had a high-speed get-off in one of the many fast sweeping turns. Krause went down hard face first and knocked himself out, but was fortunately walking and talking before he left the event.
WCGP Overall Results:
1. Colton Udall (Hon)
2. Eric Yorba (KTM)
3. Ryan Reina (Kaw)
4. Justin Seeds (Kaw)
5. Benny Breck (Hon)
6. Mark Samuels (Hon)
7. Josh Nunes (Kaw)
8. Nick Stover (Hsq)
9. Mitch Anderson (KTM)
10. Matthew Maple (Hon)
