2024 NGPC Round 7 Results

| October 1, 2024

Every year, the small desert town of Ridgecrest, California, comes to life with thousands of racers and spectators as the annual Desert Classic Grand Prix rolls into town. Hosted by the Viewfinders MC for the 50th time, the Desert Classic Grand Prix made up round seven of the Parts Unlimited AMA National Grand Prix Championship, presented by FMF, September 28-29.

Dare DeMartile at 2024 Ridgecrest NGPC — **The NGPC Series resumed in Ridgecrest, California, and Beta’s Dare DeMartile ran off with the win.**

By Trevor Hunter | Photos: Ryan Vitelli

Being the first race after a long summer break, nothing was set in stone as the racers embarked on a challenging course that traversed city streets, blue-grooved hard pack, sand and silt, and piles of asphalt that made up the nearly nine-mile loop in triple-digit temperatures for 90-plus minutes in the feature Pro race on Sunday afternoon.

Fresh off an AMA WHS win in Washougal the day before, four-time and defending series champion Dante Oliveira came in with a fight on his hands as he returned from an injury sustained at the Washougal AMA Pro Motocross National in late July. As the light turned green and the bikes fired to life, it was Purvines Racing Yamaha’s Jack Simpson who snagged the holeshot and early race lead ahead of Tyler Lynn, Dare DeMartile and the rest of the Open Pro field. Simpson held a strong pace through the first lap and led DeMartile into lap two with a sizable margin on the rest of the field. Knowing the importance of getting out front early with dust being a major factor, DeMartile made a pass on Simpson to put his Factory Beta 480RR Race Edition in the lead on lap two. And just as DeMartile passed into first, Dante crept up to the rear wheel of Simpson, stalking the Yamaha rider as they embarked on the third of seven laps just a few seconds behind DeMartile.

Colton Aeck at 2024 Ridgecrest NGPC — **Colton Aeck took the Pro II-class win.**

In the early stages of lap three, Oliveira worked his way up to second with sights set on the Beta pilot. However, as the race neared the one-hour mark, DeMartile started to inch away from Oliveira and the rest of the field, padding his lead lap after lap to comfortably take his first NGPC overall win in dominant fashion. Behind him, the battle raged as Simpson kept Dante honest lap after lap, trading times and keeping the FMF Red Bull KTM rider within striking distance. In the end, Dante held tough to finish second on the day, maintaining a healthy championship points lead heading into the penultimate round in a month’s time. Simpson, one of many successful Australian racers in the series, earned his first career 450 podium in the NGPC series.

New SLR Honda recruit Ryan Surratt rejoined the series in Ridgecrest in his first outing for the Honda factory-supported team after riding for the JCR Honda team in 2023. Surratt’s poor start relegated him near the back of the pack on the opening lap, but the former MX racer worked up to fourth by lap two and matched Oliveira and Simpson’s pace through the rest of the race, finishing a handful of seconds behind the two podium finishers. SLR Honda teammate Tyler Lynn earned his best finish of the season, finishing behind his new teammate to round out the top five.

In the Pro II ranks, 3Bros Hatch Husqvarna’s Kai Aiello rocketed off to the holeshot and led a good portion of the race. Aiello’s early speed was matched by FMF RPM KTM Racing Team’s JP Alvarez, who both controlled the class through the first hour of the race. Aiello led Alvarez for much of the first hour, but Alvarez stopped in the pits one lap early to let the dust settle and make up a few valuable seconds before Aiello was forced to pit. As the racers started the next lap, Alvarez’s pit strategy paid off as he blitzed Aiello at the pit exit and took over the race lead.

Lurking behind the two was Hatch Racing Kawasaki’s Colton Aeck who kept the front two in sight in the opening laps before slowly chipping away at the lead. With all the pit stops out of the way, the three put on a show as they battled for the coveted win for two full laps. As the race wore on, Aeck was able to maintain pace just a little bit longer, stretching his lead into the final lap to take the victory ahead of Alvarez and Aiello, with championship points leader and Aussie standout Mason Semmens finishing in fourth, just weeks after an ankle surgery to repair an injury. Fellow Australian Sam Pretschar rounded the top five in his best performance of the year.

Mikayla Nielsen at 2024 Ridgecrest NGPC — **Mikayla Nielsen won again in the Women’s Pro class.**

The Pro Women’s class was another display of dominance from Mikayla Nielsen. The holeshot went to GasGas’ Ava Silvestri, but “KayKay” quickly powered to the front on her SLR Honda CRF250RX and checked out, sprinting away from her competition in the early laps and earning her sixth victory of the year. Silvestri ran a strong pace early, but a mechanical issue slowed her pace and relegated her to second on the day.