Mark Kariya | January 17, 2023
The previous weekend, Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda’s Ryan Surratt won the AMA District 37 hare & hound—his first genuine desert race. This weekend, January 14-15, he won the opening round of the FMF AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series—another first for the former professional motocross racer—in markedly different conditions. “It’s been a good first two weekends of January for me!” he said. “We’re off to the right start, for sure.”
LiquiMoly Beta’s Dare DeMartile and FMF KTM’s Dante Oliveira, the three-time and defending series champ, rounded out the podium on a very muddy weekend at American MX, hosted by the SoCal Motorcycle Club, in Delano, California.
While several riders openly dreaded the conditions, the winners took them in stride with both Surratt and Pro II winner Jack Simpson insisting they loved riding in mud. Off the start, Justin Hoeft ably demonstrated he’s still a master starter, unfazed by both the new-for-‘23 dead-engine start and his new Yamaha YZ450FX as a member of the Purvines Racing squad. He led for about 45 minutes though Surratt soon came up to join him at the front, the two going back and forth until Surratt took the lead for good on his Honda CRF450RX about 50 minutes in.
“Me and Hoeft went at it for a good chunk of the race—going back and forth, back and forth—then I decided to pit early, get some [fresh goggles] and try to get away from just being roosted,” Surratt said. When his rivals pitted later, Surratt jumped into the lead for good. “I rode my own race and let them battle in the mud. “I thought the off-road guys would be a little quicker in the mud because they talk bad about us [motocrossers] in the mud, but I think the moto guys showed them who could ride in the mud this weekend.”
For DeMartile, his strong runner-up finish—just two seconds behind Surratt at the finish—made up for last year’s DNF while running third. The motocrosser started off somewhat slowly as he adjusted to the dead-engine start and was eighth at the end of the first lap. DeMartile pitted early to get fresh goggles. “After that, I really put my head down and just got some solid laps and worked my way up to the front [pack] and was running top three.” A couple laps later was the scheduled pit to top off his Beta 480 RR with fuel and get a new set of goggles. That allowed him to move into second and chase the leader, but he ran out of time.
Though not pleased with third—matching his finish from last year—KTM 450 XC-F-mounted Oliveira played the long game, knowing there are still nine rounds left. “I tried to stay calm and stay out of the way and let the race fall into place if other guys went down and whatnot,” he said. “But the top two guys were charging so I had to start charging a little more.” However, the mud apparently accelerated chain wear and he began hearing it skipping on the sprocket. “It wasn’t skipping crazy dramatic, but you could hear it, so I didn’t want to have it fall off and end the race.” A quick pit to tighten it saw him drop to seventh, but he clawed his way back to third by the white flag.
Slam Life Racing (SLR) Honda’s Cole Martinez was unable to duplicate last year’s victory and settled for fourth followed by FMF KTM’s Mateo Oliveira, Hoeft, Babbitt’s Kawasaki rider Lyndon Snodgrass (the 2022 GNCC XC2 champ getting some 450 time in before next year when he’ll be on 450s full-time) and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Austin Walton.
Like Hoeft, Jack Simpson changed teams and bikes over the winter, also landing on the Purvines Racing squad. And like his new teammate, he holeshot the Pro II line aboard his Yamaha YZ250FX before a flawless ride to the class win and finish ninth overall ahead of Precision Concepts Kawasaki’s Zach Bell (450cc). “It always is a little bit daunting being a Pro rider and jumping onto a new bike, new chassis,” Simpson said. “But I did probably 10, 15 hours on it back in Australia with this same suspension setup that I’m racing today so I did get used to it. The race played out exactly how I planned it: holeshot, don’t panic, just cruise, cruise along and make the right decision with the lines, don’t get stuck and keep clean and stay up.”
FMF/RPM Racing KTM’s Gus Riordan kept fellow Aussie Simpson in sight until his bike ran low on coolant, forcing him to back off until he could pit. He held onto second in class and 13th overall, 17 seconds back with 3 Bros./Hatch Racing Husqvarna’s Kai Aiello rounding out the Pro II podium.
Three-time and reigning Pro Women champ Brandy Richards demonstrated great mud skills aboard her KTM 250 XC-F, thanks in part to her occasional forays into GNCCs. (Since she’s racing the 250cc Pro class in WORCS this season, she opted to park her 350.) Richards placed 30th overall as well with 3 Bros./Hatch Racing Gas Gas rider Ava Silvestri and 3 Bros. KTM-mounted high school water polo star Mikayla Nielsen rounding out the Pro Women podium.
Mark Kariya
PRO RESULTS
- Ryan Surratt (Hon)
- Dare DeMartile (Bet)
- Dante Oliveira (KTM)
- Cole Martinez (Hon)
- Mateo Oliveira (KTM)
- Justin Hoeft (Yam)
- Lyndon Snodgrass (Kaw)
- Austin Walton (Hus)
- Jack Simpson (Hon) Pro 2
- Zach Bell (Kaw)
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