Blayne Thompson Tops Windy Stateline WCGP

Mark Kariya | May 5, 2017

After winning the season opening Adelanto Grand Prix, bad luck hit Fasthouse Honda’s Blayne Thompson, as he recorded finishes of 6-5-DNF in subsequent rounds of the AMA District 37/Maxxis Big 6 Grand Prix Series.

But he didn’t let that dissuade him and his persistence—as well as his innate speed—paid off with victory at the unpleasantly windy State Line Grand Prix, May 6-7, hosted by the Shamrocks Motorcycle Club, and the AMA Big 6 West Coast Grand Prix (WCGP) Series, its 90 minute feature race. Ox Motorsports Honda’s Zach Bell grabbed the lead briefly in the middle stages but had to settle for second, though he remains the points leader. Defending series champ Eric Yorba claimed third, the Maxxis/FMF/RPM Racing KTM rider also spending a few minutes up front at one point.

“I just told myself like at the Adelanto Grand Prix that we needed to come out here and win and catch up on points,” Thompson said. “Yeah, we had bad luck in the last two rounds.”

The Maxxis/TBT Racing/Bell Helmets CRF450R rider added, “You always want to win, but this time I had to make sure I had the win out here. The other ones, I was going, ‘All right, we know we have the speed and everything,’ but this one we made sure we had to get it. We had a good start and I knew the dust would be a factor with everybody so that’s what I focused on.

“Me and [Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts Kawasaki’s] Justin Seeds got out front early. I don’t know when he fell back a little bit, but we got up front and got out of the dust so it helped us a lot.”

The WCGP Pro II race saw Maxxis/FMF/RPM Racing KTM’s Dante Oliveira get out front early and hold off CST KTM rider Mitch Anderson by a scant five seconds at the finish. Northland Motorsports Kawasaki’s Clay Hengeveld was another 39 second back for third in class as the trio finished 10-11-12 overall.

WCGP:

  1. Blayne Thompson (Hon)
  2. Zach Bell (Hon)
  3. Eric Yorba (KTM)
  4. Justin Seeds (Kaw)
  5. Trevor Stewart (Hon)
  6. Travis Damon (Hon)
  7. Ryan Reina (Kaw)
  8. Mark Samuels (Hon)
  9. Michael Delfante (Yam)
  10. Dante Oliveira (KTM) Pro II

RESULTS: www.Big6Racing.com

Mark Kariya | Contributor Kariya spends way too much time in the desert, but we’re glad he does as he’s the man who gets us our coverage of all things sandy.