2024 NGPC Round 8 Results

Mark Kariya | October 29, 2024

Dante Oliveira, Mason Semmens and Mikayla Nielsen can rest easy—relatively speaking—as each of them clinched their respective Pro-class championships with one round still to go in the Parts Unlimited AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series, presented by FMF.

Dante Oliveira leads 2024 Blythe NGPC. Photo Mark Kariya — **Dante Oliveira led from start to finish to successfully defend his number-one plate, which he earned for the fifth consecutive season.**

Photos by Mark Kariya

All three did it in style, as well, each winning their class at the Phil Means Memorial/Gold Rush Grand Prix hosted by the Prospectors Motorcycle Club on a hot weekend at the always demanding Shorty’s Sports Park. For FMF KTM Factory Off-Road Racing Team’s Oliveira, it’s his fifth consecutive title in the coveted Pro class, while FMF RPM Racing KTM rider Semmens wrapped up the Pro II title in his first year contesting the series. And this makes two straight crowns in Pro Women for Slam Life Racing (SLR) Honda’s Nielsen.

Less than a week after returning from a challenging NOCO FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Spain, Oliveira said, “I guess I only had to get fourth, but I was just stoked to come back and race a sand track and get back to the GPs, because it was a struggle out in Spain for the ISDE. Just to get back here and get a win and have some fun on the dirt bike was awesome!”

From grabbing the holeshot on his Bobby Dawson-prepared Red Bull/Dunlop/Alpinestars 450 XC-F to the checkered flag an hour, 31 minutes and 12 seconds later, Oliveira owned the $8000 feature race.

But he didn’t have much wiggle room in the early going, as Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Off-Road Team’s Austin Walton kept it close, staying within a few seconds and ultimately finishing 11 seconds shy of the champ on his Motorex/FMF/Fly Racing FX 450.

“I’ve been here enough times, and I’ve won here twice, so I know what this track entails,” he noted. “Today, honestly, I feel like it was more on the least-rough side in some of the sections, but that doesn’t mean it was easy!

“I definitely was happy with my performance. The bike worked awesome; the team is amazing.”

Mason Semmens at 2024 Blythe NGPC. Photo Mark Kariya — **A fifth Pro II win of the season thanks to leading from the start allowed Mason Semmens to claim the championship in his first attempt, though he faced some adversity during the year.**

Third for practically the entire afternoon was SLR Honda’s Tyler Lynn. Racing virtually every weekend for a couple months now is apparently agreeing with him.

“I’m going on eight or nine weekends in a row, I think, of Baja 400, lots of WORCS racing, SRA [grand prix] racing, then NGPC racing—lots of races and getting really solid results, getting better every weekend, so I’m super-excited!” the Monster Energy/Lava Propane/Fly Racing CRF450RX rider said. “I got off to a decent start—I think I was fifth or sixth—and just made some key passes early on. Now, to put together a [good] ride here for my first time on the 450 is super cool and it’s all coming together.”

Lynn’s SLR Honda teammate Ryan Surratt—who was planning to start Baja 1000 pre-running with the team the next day—followed in fourth with LiquiMoly Beta’s Dare DeMartile fifth, thus solidifying his hold on second in the overall points.

Just missing the top five overall in sixth place was Pro II winner Semmens aboard his Trail Jesters/Acerbis/Moose Racing 250 XC-F.

With class rival Colton Aeck coming into the race 21 points back, Semmens said, “I had to win and Colton to be third or worse [to lock up the championship]. Perfect race—holeshot and led every lap, start to finish! Pulled a gap and maintained, and honestly, I’m pretty tired right now. It’s hot out here; tough track, and for some reason it really took it out of me. Usually I’m pretty strong at the end, but I had nothing [today].”

Semmens did have enough to best class runner-up Parker Ross by 26 seconds, the SLR Honda rider taking eighth overall with Purvines Racing/Simi Valley Cycles Yamaha-mounted Jack Simpson splitting them. Third Pro II and ninth overall belonged to another Aussie, Sam Pretscherer on his Gol Gol Hotel Husqvarna, while Hatch Racing Kawasaki’s Aeck rounded out the top 10.

Mikayla Nielsen at 2024 Blythe NGPC. Photo Mark Kariya — **With a possible kill-switch issue causing the bike to die at inopportune and unpredictable times, Mikayla Nielsen played it safe, yet still got the Pro Women’s class win and title.**

Nielsen’s fifth straight Pro Women-class triumph—and seventh of the season—made it a cinch to defend the number-one plate on her Skechers/Pro Circuit/Alpinestars CRF250RX. Leading from just after the start, she insisted she didn’t know clinching the championship was a possibility. “I didn’t want to assume anything!” Nielsen said. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

With a suspected kill-switch issue causing her bike to run less than ideally, she opted to play it safe. “On one of the jumps, it died, so that kind of scared me, so I took the rest of the race just rolling everything.”