2023 NGPC Utah Round 7 Results

Mark Kariya | May 23, 2023

Besides blinding speed, one trait that FMF KTM Factory Off-Road Racing Team’s Dante Oliveira has is the mental ability to always look to the future and not dwell on the past.

So, that little logistical hiccup that left him (and three others) with empty fuel tanks at round six was the furthest thing from his thoughts lining up for round seven of the FMF AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series. He focused solely on how to win the Grassroots MX’s Bunker Hill Grand Prix at Bunker Hill MX in Delta, Utah.

Dante Oliveira 2023 NGPC Utah Round 7 — **After chasing Ryan Surratt for about 30 minutes, Dante Oliveira (pictured) took over when Surratt had to pull wire out his rear wheel.**

Photos By Mark Kariya

And after chasing pace-setting Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda rider Ryan Surratt for about the first 30 minutes of the 90-minute and $8000 feature race, Oliveira took over.

“Actually, when the battling was starting to get good, he [Surratt] ended up clipping a fence and getting some wire in his rear wheel so that put a little damper in his ride,” the three-time and defending series champ explained. “After that all happened, I just rode smooth and hit my marks and kept her on two wheels and just finished.” Unofficially, he took the checkered flag after one hour, 31 minutes and 29 seconds on his Red Bull/Dunlop/Thor-backed 450 XC-F. (Next for him? The opening round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, taking advantage of a small window of opportunity.)

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Austin Walton had a great jump off the gate, putting himself in the mix from the beginning on his Motorex/VP Racing Fuels/Fly Racing FX 450. After running third behind Oliveira and Surratt most of the afternoon, he slipped into second with about 15 minutes left and finished in 1:32:02.

Kade Tinkler-Walker at 2023 Bunker Hill NGPC — **Kade Tinkler-Walker notched his fourth Pro II win of the season. He’s now just five points behind class points leader Jack Simpson who had an off day, finishing seventh Pro II.**

Crediting the WP Suspension technicians who’ve worked to come up with a new setting that he felt more comfortable with, Walton reported, “I stayed solid through the whole race. Finally to get on the podium taking second place, I’m super-happy about that. I felt awesome out there. The track was gnarly! I was able to work my way into second place and stay solid there.”

Surratt and his Pro Circuit/Pirelli/Fly Racing CRF450RX was denied the podium when Chaparral Motorsports/Precision Concepts Kawasaki’s Tyler Lynn snuck past on the final lap. Coming off his win at the AMA Hare & Hound National the week before and about an hour north of Bunker Hill, his third place in 1:32:24 was the latest in a string of strong recent performances on his Team Green/Maxima/Leatt KX450X.

“I knew this weekend was a good weekend,” he said. “It was a hometown race; we had a good supportive crowd and I was just stoked to go racing and ended up on the podium! I think I was seventh to the 30-minute mark, then my arms started freeing up a little bit, and I just put on a charge and just kept plugging away until the very last lap where I passed for a podium.”

Surratt settled for fourth ahead of Purvines Racing Yamaha-mounted Justin Hoeft and Pro II winner Kade Tinkler-Walker. That makes it three victories for the Slam Life Racing (SLR) Honda rider and, unofficially, moves him to a minuscule five points behind Purvines Racing’s Jack Simpson, 161-156. (Simpson had an off day, finishing seventh in class and 16th overall.)

Walker noted, “I got a mediocre start—I was seventh [250]—but I like the sand and I figured if I could drop the hammer right away and try to pass everybody, and capitalize maybe on some people who weren’t quite as aggressive on the first couple laps, that I could get into the lead. I got into the lead right before the pits. After that, I kind of rode my own race. I really didn’t push very hard the whole moto, just because this [course] reminds me a lot of [riding in] Belgium and the sand [there]. If you ride the sand and let it come to you, it’s much easier to ride.”

Brandy Richards at 2023 Bunker Hill NGPC — **Brandy Richards showed no signs of rust in her return to racing following her injuries from February.**

Purvines Racing rider Trevor Stewart, 3 Bros./Hatch Racing GasGas-mounted Giacomo Redondi, SLR Honda’s Tallon LaFountaine and Cameron Horner on his Fasst Co. Honda rounded out the top 10 overall with Pro II riders Kai Aiello on his 3 Bros./Hatch Racing Husqvarna and FMF/RPM Racing KTM’s JP Alvarez 11th and 12th overall, respectively.

After missing four rounds due to a violently devastating non-racing crash, CST Tires/Fly Racing KTM’s Brandy Richards lined up for her first race since the accident and picked up right where she’d left off. The three-time Pro Women’s champ shared, “I’ve been on the bike for about a month now. [It felt] a lot better than I thought [it might]. The longest moto I’ve done practicing is like a 45-minute moto and my legs were pretty tired after that, so I was a little worried about the last half-hour, but I actually felt really good. I tried to sprint the first couple laps because I knew my legs eventually would get tired. So I sprinted, then found a good pace that I could [maintain] the rest of the race.”

It’s a good first step as she rebuilds toward the goal of competing for the U.S. ISDE team in Argentina in November.

Ryden Morgan at 2023 Bunker Hill NGPC — **Ryden Morgan was the most impressive Youth rider of the weekend, winning all three Micro Mini 65cc races he entered.**

3 Bros./Hatch Racing GasGas rider Ava Silvestri finished second for the sixth time this season, but that consistency now sees her as the Pro Women’s points leader, unofficially, over the absent Mikayla Nielsen, 171-166. FMF/RPM Racing KTM’s Kaitlyn Jacobs is third at 135 after finishing third on the day, with Richards fourth with 90 points.

The series resumes with round eight in Preston, Idaho, on August 19-20.