Summer break is over and so is Dante Oliveira’s win streak in the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series, presented by FMF.
Photos by Mark Kariya
Round seven of the 10-race series saw FMF RPM Racing KTM’s Mason Semmens lead from start to finish, with six-time and reigning series champ Dante Oliveira keeping him honest the entire 90 minutes. That broke Oliveira’s considerable win streak, though Semmens has taken two Pro 450cc victories in the Rocky Mountain ATV-MC World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS), presented by MSR, and leads in points in that championship.
Dubbed the Dynamite Grand Prix at the Cache Valley MX Park, the race was co-sanctioned by no less than five organizations: NGPC, WORCS, Grassroots Off-Road, Southwestern Idaho Desert Racing Association (SIDRA) and Utah Motorcycle Off-Road Racing Association (UMORA). This resulted in a huge number of participants, leading to several classes with more than 40 riders lining up behind the MX gates.
And Semmens was doubly motivated after watching (on TV) fellow Aussie—and former teammate Hunter Lawrence—capture the AMA Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday.
“Back in 2014, 2015, I was teammates with Hunter and Jett—on a KTM junior [motocross] program we had at home,” he said. “I wanted Hunter to win so damn bad yesterday just because of Supercross, and he’d come second in SMX to Jett multiple times. I just really wanted him to get that win! Seeing him get that, I was so stoked! I guess I just tried to keep it on two wheels today and ride my own laps and put my head down. I got the holeshot and led every lap. Dante was breathing down my neck the whole time!”
Semmens and his Dunlop/Motorex/Moose Racing-backed 450 XC-F had just under 12 seconds on Oliveira at the finish.
Despite breaking his left hand during the summer break while being part of a squad performing durability testing of the latest works KTM 450 Rally bikes in Morocco, Oliveira refused to offer that as an excuse. The Red Bull/Acerbis/Alpinestars 450 XC-F rider admitted losing ground to Semmens in the first half of the lap on the motocross track, then reeling him in throughout the more off-road last half.
“I was maybe a little too patient,” Oliveira said. He rode well. I’m definitely pissed about this one—there’s a fire lit [in me], that’s for sure! We want [another win] more than ever.”
Oliveira still leads in points; unofficially, he has 205, while Liqui Moly Beta’s Dare DeMartile—third on the day—sits second in points at 151. With his win, Semmens moves up to third with 145, unofficially.
DeMartile had tough duty after a mediocre first lap aboard his FMF/Bridgestone/Moose Racing 450 RX that wore the blue-and-yellow number one plate for WORCS and had to fight through quite a bit of dust to finally steal third place from Pro Circuit Kawasaki Off-road Team’s Justin Hoeft on the final lap.
“I struggled a little bit the first lap and was pretty far back and had to put my head down and pass a lot of guys!” he declared. “I got around a lot of guys and finished strong, and that was all I could do. I’m really upset about my start and my first couple laps of the race. I really wanted to be battling with Mason and Dante; I think my speed is definitely there; I just need to start there. With how tight the [cornfield sections are], the start was probably 40 percent of the race.”
A disappointed Hoeft reflected on a race where he demonstrated competitive speed aboard his Hatch Racing/Maxima/Fast House KX450SR until the final lap and admitted, “I guess I need to train.”
Fifth went to Slam Life Racing (SLR) Honda’s Tyler Lynn, a knee injury suffered the week before proving a hindrance to his speed. (Only class results were available at press time.)
In Pro II (for 250s), Lynn’s SLR Honda teammate Sam Pretscherer rebounded from an okay start to put himself near the front early on astride his Lava Propane/Mother F Bars/Fly Racing CRF250RX, but it took nearly half the race before he could sneak past class leader Evan Stice. Idaho resident Stice proved to be a formidable challenge aboard his Let’s Ride/MSR YZ250F, with Pretscherer noting, “Evan Stice was pushing me the whole day, he was ripping! It was sick! I love having races like that.”
FMF RPM Racing KTM’s Cole Zeller was third, which was disappointing on the heels of his round-six win.
Pro Women saw current champ Mikayla Nielsen once again storm to the front aboard her SLR Honda CRF250RX with all indications of a class-leading sixth triumph—this after racing WMX at Ironman Raceway in Indiana the previous two days.
However, it was not to be as a suspected electrical issue caused her bike to run rough and finally quit in the latter stages, though she got restarted and held on to second.
Instead, Norman Racing Husqvarna’s Ava Silvestri (who also hopped aboard the private jet SLR Honda arranged for after Ironman) took her second victory of the season, unofficially closing the points gap to 15 behind Nielsen, 200-185.
The FMF/Blud Lubricants/Troy Lee Designs FC 250 rider found off-road racing after a summer of WMX a difficult transition. “I think the real challenge was more just mental because I really want to go home after being on the road for so long,” Silvestri said. “Physically, at the beginning of the race I was a bit slow and couldn’t really figure out how to ride the track until I pitted. I honestly felt like I was riding with my eyes closed at the beginning! Not much of that [motocross] intensity carried over today and I definitely noticed that. At the beginning it felt kind of like a trailside! This is not how I want to inherit the lead, but you take what you can get sometimes. I’m just more bummed on the fact that I wasn’t riding that great so I didn’t really feel that it translated over to me getting a win, but sometimes that’s just the circumstances and you take what you can get.”
Carl’s Cycle Sales KTM-mounted Addie Nichols rounded out the podium in third, her first Pro-class podium since moving up before the break.CN
2026 NGPC / WORCS Round 7 Results
OVERALL PRO (Top 10)
- Mason Semmens (KTM)
- Dante Oliveira (KTM)
- Dare DeMartile (Bet)
- Justin Hoeft (Kaw)
- Tyler Lynn (Hon)
- Henry Millecam (KTM)
- Clayton Gerstner (Bet)
- Tristun Alvarez (Kaw)
- Mateo Oliveira (Hus)
- Nolan Cate (Hon)
