If the results of round one are a reliable indicator, FMF KTM Factory Off-Road Racing Team’s Dante Oliveira will face his stiffest challenge yet in his quest for a sixth-consecutive title in the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series, Presented by FMF.
Photos by Mark Kariya
But he managed to stay one step ahead of the competition at round one—the So Cal Motorcycle Club’s American Grand Prix—after fending off first his brother and teammate, Mateo, and then Liqui Moly Beta’s Dare DeMartile, who hounded him throughout the latter stages of the $8000, 90-minute feature race. After leading a few laps, DeMartile was the runner-up, one second behind, while Mateo ended up third, 43 seconds behind the Beta pilot.
“You have to be on your A game here; there’s no slouches here either,” the Red Bull/Motorex/Alpinestars 450 XC-F-mounted winner said. “This was a hard track to push it on, too, with how slick it is on the insides and the outsides. You’ve got the marbly rocks from the track being ripped earlier and the berms going away, too. It kind of forces you to move around the track [looking for good lines during the race]. It was a fun race! I got the holeshot and put the hammer down, but Mateo and Dare kept me honest the whole time.”
For DeMartile and his FMF/Bridgestone/FXR480RR, it was a bit of deja vu. “Last year, we also had a good race. I was happy to lead a couple laps. Unfortunately, I had a little goggle mishap during the pits—I tried to swap some goggles and dropped them, but it’s the first round, and we’re working out the bugs. But everything else went well!
“There were a couple of sections where we’d play cat-and-mouse—a couple of sections where I would be faster in, and then there were a couple of sections where he would pull me in. The nice part about being behind him is you can see that and gauge that. We came side by side in one of the sections of the track; a couple of times, we ran side by side next to each other for 50 or 100 feet! It was a great battle between us.”
The early going saw Dunlop/Renthal/100% 450XC-F rider Mateo Oliveira only one or two seconds behind Dante, leaving him vulnerable to considerable, painful roost on the high-speed, hard-packed circuit.
“I was like, ‘I have to stay in his roost. If I give him any room, it’s over—I’ve got to stay on his wheel and stay in this battle!’ Definitely ate a lot of roost! It was a good fight for the first 40 minutes for the lead, then I got shuffled back to third and just stayed there.”
But on adjusted time, it was actually Pro II winner Colton Aeck who was third fastest on the day.
Pushed from the outset by defending class champ Mason Semmens, their battle carried them from the class’s second-row start to pass the majority of Open Pros who start on row one.
FMF/RPM Racing KTM-mounted Semmens pulled the holeshot on his Precision Concepts/Trail Jesters/Moose Racing 250 XC-F with Hatch Racing/McCarty Electric’s Aeck fifth.
But Aeck made passes quickly aboard his Team Green/Hoosier Tire/O’Neal Racing KX250X to close on then pass the Australian. Aeck reported, “I grew up riding a lot of hardpack—that’s what I’m comfortable with. This place is especially slick when it dries out like this.
“It was interesting throughout the race—you had to really be conscious of the way the track was developing because there was quite a bit of traction at the beginning, and as the race developed, the moisture went away, and so did the traction. Me and Mason, we’ve had some great battles [all last year] and it looks like it’s going to continue. We plan to be on top—that’s the goal, that’s the plan—but he’s not going to make it easy, I know that for sure!”
Aeck completed 10 laps in an hour, 32 minutes and two seconds, officially making him the third-fastest overall rider of the day, five seconds ahead of Mateo Oliveira, who was one second quicker than Semmens.
Slam Life Racing (SLR) Honda’s Tyler Lynn circulated in a solitary fourth Open Pro all afternoon, finishing in 1:32:33 for sixth overall, ahead of new Pro Circuit/Precision Coatings KX450-mounted Giacomo Redondi (who’d kept his undefeated record in the 30+ Open AA class on Saturday going strong).
3Bros/Hatch Racing Husqvarna’s Kai Aiello was third in Pro II and eighth overall, nine seconds ahead of Gainslinger Factory Racing/MX Coach Husqvarna rider Cole Zeller (fourth-place Pro II) with AMA Hare & Hound Pro 250 champ Sam Pretscherer rounding out the top 10.
SLR Honda’s Mikayla Nielsen signaled her intention to own the Pro Women title for a third-straight season by running away from her pursuers aboard her Monster Energy/Lava Propane/Fly Racing CRF250RX. Last year’s number two, Ava Silvestri, was 54 seconds in arrears at the finish on her 395 Motorsports/Racer Decal/Troy Lee Designs GasGas with self-funded YZ250 rider Mackenzie Caverhill third.
With an improved level of fitness after spending more time cycling as well as an emphasis on motocross speed, Nielsen kept her focus by setting her sights on the Pro II riders who start a row ahead of the Pro Women: “I always try to catch the [Pro II] line and chase a good spot in the overall. But this track, man, I probably wanted to shed a couple tears because the 250 guys were trying to race each other, and I was getting roosted—and this roost is probably the worst on the circuit!”
2025 NGPC Round 1 Results
OVERALL (Top 10)
- Dante Oliveira (KTM)
- Dare DeMartile (Bet)
- Colton Aeck (Kaw)
- Mateo Oliveira (KTM)
- Mason Semmens (KTM)
- Tyler Lynn (Hon)
- Giacomo Redondi (Kaw)
- Kai Aiello (Hus)
- Cole Zeller (Hus)
- Samuel Pretscherer (Hus)
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