Mark Kariya | March 18, 2024
FMF/KTM Factory Racing Off-Road Team stars (and brothers) Dante and Mateo Oliveira kicked off the AMA West Hare Scrambles (WHS) Regional Championship Series, presented by MojoMotoSport, by going 1-2 at the series opener, the Lassen Motorcycle Club Diamond Backs’ Turtle Mountain Hare Scrambles in Doyle, California.
Photos by Mark Kariya
Liqui Moly Beta’s Zane Roberts rounded out the Pro podium.
In addition, Sherco’s Layton Smail came from behind to score the Pro 250 win over FMF/RPM Racing KTM rider Jaden Dahners and Carson City Motorsports Husky-mounted Ryder Thomaselli. Defending Vet Pro 35+ champ James McMurray kicked off the season triumphant after a late battle with eventual runner-up Steve Roberts and Chase Rosenquist third, despite feeling the effects of his bachelor party.
Interestingly, both Oliveiras plan to run Red Bull/Motorex/Alpinestars-sponsored 350 XC-Fs instead of 450s this year. Though it’s the choice for East Coast woods racing, why the smaller mount?
It’s part of a longer-range plan, according to Mateo. “For the whole year, we’ll be on 350s for the West Hare Scrambles,” Mateo said. “I think every round but this one; we’ll also be on DOT-legal tires (which are required at Six Days). This bike is full Six Days-spec—bigger stator (but no lights) and detuned, and everything is for Six Days [in Spain in October]. It’s a little Six Days prep as we’re racing in the U.S., but honestly, it’s an awesome machine—I had a blast today, first race on it.”
Indeed, and despite the displacement disadvantage compared to the rest of the field, Mateo got the holeshot off the start, followed closely by Dante and Liqui Moly Beta’s Joe Wasson as the field set off for two and a half hours around a fast, flowy 12-mile course at the Ft. Sage Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Area.
After leading for the first hour—with Dante, Wasson and Roberts lurking right behind—Dante grabbed the lead aboard his Dunlop/Motion Pro/Trail Jesters mount and steadily inched away.
“They were going fast, but in some of the sand whoops, I could see I could inch closer to them quite a bit, so I had my spots where I was quicker, and I’d push there to get closer and use another spot to get around, but it was a little tricky to make a pass today with how fast it was because we’re all pretty much wide-open,” Dante said.
“I knew there probably wasn’t going to be a ton of separation, especially those first couple laps,” Fiji Water/FMF/Klim 480 RR-mounted Roberts, said. “I knew this course would be fast, and as long as it wasn’t too dusty, we’d all be tight.
“I knew it was going to be a long race, and I was trying to save it for the end but also stay in that group. We did two laps there, and Dante kept pushing behind me. He passed me so I was getting a little excited and pushing for Mateo. I think on the third lap, I was kind of like, ‘We’re 40 minutes in, and we’re going just balls to the wall here. I’m going to back it down a little bit, get comfortable, and then we’ll push towards the end.’
“Unfortunately, I had a little crash during that time, so that kind of set me a little further back than I would’ve wanted to be, and I lost touch with those guys. But on the last lap, I gave it everything I had and came in pretty close to Mateo there, probably five or 10 seconds there at the end.”
After winning last year’s season opener as well as the finale, Smail wasn’t sure he was going to be able to repeat that feat when his Akrapovic/Flexx Handlebars/Nu-Ray Metals 250 SEF refused to run properly, leaving him far behind.
“I did not know what was going on with it; I was dead last for probably half the first lap, and then I started passing people despite it still running bad,” he said. “I pulled into the pits, and it randomly started running good, and I just started picking them off. I pitted early, got passed, and was able to push all the way to the finish line and have a pretty good lead at the end.”
Ava Silvestri, the two-time and current queen of WHS Pro Women’s, put it to the field in the morning race. The 3Bros./Hatch Racing GasGas rider dominated over InnTeck/Full Factory Off-Road KTM-mounted Rachel Stout and Liqui Moly Beta-support rider Britney Gallegos.
Though worried that she might be too rusty following a week or so of concussion protocol, Silvestri showed little sign of rust and stretched her lead with every mile on her FMF/Dunlop/Troy Lee Designs EX 250F.
“I was a little worried, honestly, going into this race that I was going to be a little off-pace just from not riding and being on the bike [as usual].
“I went and rode around yesterday on the course from last year, so I kind of got a little feel for the bike again. My plan today was to hopefully get the holeshot and check out because I knew it was going to be dusty eventually towards the end.
“It worked out because that’s what I was able to do so I kind of started to feel the flow of the track.”
PRO/AA
- Dante Oliveira (KTM)
- Mateo Oliveira (KTM)
- Giacomo Redondi (GG)
- Joseph Wasson (Bet)
- Zane Roberts (Bet)
PRO 250
- Layton Smail (She)
- Jaden Dahners (KTM)
- Ryder Thomaselli (Hus)
- Anthony Ferrante (KTM)
- Alex Trapp