Zach Bell’s a quick learner. The former motocross star made last month’s Adelanto Grand Prix his first-ever off-road race and finished fourth.
Since then, the Ox Motorsports Honda recruit has been putting in 90-minute simulation motos three times a week to get ready for his second off-road race, the 71st Annual Dirt Diggers Grand Prix and its AMA Big 6 West Coast Grand Prix (WCGP) Series feature race, round two of the AMA District 37/Maxxis Big 6 Grand Prix Series.
It obviously worked as he took the lead on the second lap and held it the rest of the way to win and unofficially take over the series points lead from holeshot winner and King of Adelanto Blayne Thompson.
After snagging the holeshot, Fasthouse Honda-mounted Thompson led for just over a lap until he crashed, though only Zach Bell was close enough to take advantage and squirt past. From there, Thompson shadowed the former motocross star who’s working his way back up to speed by filling in for the injured Colton Udall on the Ox Motorsports team.But in the heat of battle, Thompson forgot a key instruction given in the riders’ meeting and again on the start line: stop at the end of pit lane before merging onto the course.
“I came in [to pit] right behind Zach and I totally didn’t see the guy with the stop sign [at the pit exit] and just pulled out of the pits,” Thompson said.
He didn’t find out about the penalty imposed by Big 6 officials until well after the race, and the resultant sixth-place finish leaves him three points behind new leader Zach Bell, 48-45, unofficially. Understandably disappointed, he vowed, “We’ll be back at the next round to come win it at Glen Helen.”
For winner Bell, the result vindicated his decision to try off-road racing, at least for a while.
“I’ve been off the bike for about a year now [recovering from injuries and complications from surgery] and I’ve been working my butt off, trying to get back [to racing],” Bell said. “It’s really paying off. I’ve been on the bike for about a month so I’ve been putting in hour-and-a-half motos three days a week. To get here back on top feels good. I was third off the start. The dust was so bad so I backed her down and made the pass whenever I needed to. That’s when Blayne went down in front of me. I capitalized and got out front and he couldn’t pass me with that dust so I just stayed right there and rode my own race. The last lap was a harsh lap because of my hands [blistering badly].”
As for Robby Bell, he reported that he didn’t find his rhythm until the second lap on the Taft Big 6 course.
“By the third lap, I got by [Jeff] Loop, then I know [reigning series champ] Eric Yorba had a little mechanical issue so he had to lay off so that got me into third and that’s pretty much where I stayed the whole time,” Bell said. “Zach and Blayne were pretty much checked out.”
Del Fante was pleased to get on the podium again, matching his best-to-date finish from last year’s series finale.
“Robby got around me in the beginning and I latched on to him and found some good lines from him so that was really good,” he said. “I just knew if I could stay behind him, I’d be in a good spot towards the end.”
Robby Bell’s teammate Justin Seeds was seven seconds behind del Fante for fourth place with Zach Bell’s teammate Mark Samuels taking fifth. Thompson was credited with sixth followed by Johnny Campbell Racing Honda’s Trevor Stewart, WCGP Pro II winner Beau Baron–who had a come-from-behind ride after being outpowered on the start, Heavyweight Expert winner Dante Oliveira and Heavyweight Expert runner-up Logan Chambers.
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