Ox Motorsports Honda’s Zach Bell is now two for three in the AMA District 37/Maxxis Big 6 Grand Prix Series after his performance at the 25th Annual Prairie Dogs Grand Prix, put on by the Prairie Dogs Motorcycle Club at Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bernardino, California, Sunday.
Though a bit behind right out of the gate, Bell quickly tucked in behind Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda’s Trevor Stewart, then jammed his CRF450X underneath Stewart’s CRF450RX in the truck track portion of the course. From there, it was clear sailing for the motocrosser-turned-off-road-star in the 90-minute, $2000 AMA Big 6 West Coast Grand Prix (WCGP) Series feature race with Stewart settling for second and defending series champ Eric Yorba getting third after finally shaking the gremlins that have plagued him to this point.
As a result, Bell backed up his Taft Big 6 GP win and added a few more points to his lead in the series points standings while some shuffling took place behind him. Unofficially, he has 78 while Stewart moves to second at 64 followed by round-one winner Blayne Thompson’s 61, Robby Bell’s 58 and Justin Seeds’ 48.
“I made some good passes about halfway through the first lap,” the winner shared. “I knew I had to make [them] before we got to the ridge because it was dusty [up there] so I put a hard charge in, got past [Stewart] and just kind of sprinted out. That put me in a good position so I could kind of relax and just check myself out and see what I could do to make me go faster or slower at different points. I got off to a good lead, rode my own race and had a smile on my face the entire time.
“I’m enjoying this stuff,” he added. “I like the long motos. It’s so much fun being able to go out there and win coming off all these injuries [in motocross last year].I felt like I was more in control [here than at round two]. At Taft, I got into the lead and didn’t know what to do with it.”
Stewart said that he was trying to keep on Bell’s tail, but Bell was just riding such a solid race.
“Once we hit those ridges, it was absolutely no vision so it was tough, for sure,” Steward said. “Then he ended up getting stuck behind some lappers going down ‘Boy Scout’ [trail] and I was able to get right up on him. Unfortunately, a lapper kind of took me off the track a little bit and [Bell] ended up pulling back away from me.”
Yorba’s third place came as a relief to the FMF/Maxxis/RPM Racing KTM rider
“This was definitely a turnaround race for me,” Yorba said. “My year’s just been off to a rough start both in the WORCS series and here in the Big 6 series. Today I felt good. I was off to a decent start, but I knew the start was really going to be key with that ridge and the dust. I did what I could; I felt really strong through the entire race. Trevor and Zach were pinning it and using the dust to their advantage, that’s for sure. I made a gamble and was maybe hoping with no pit maybe being able to make a pass on Trevor. I knew that would be my only chance.”
While that got him closer, Yorba fell 14 seconds short at the finish to earn his first podium of the year followed by Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts Kawasaki rider Robby Bell and Fasthouse Honda’s Thompson who ran fourth until a reported equipment issue popped up. Jeff Loop, Justin Seeds, Michael del Fante, Mark Samuels and Travis Damon rounded out the top 10 overall.
The WCGP Pro II category saw CST Honda rider Beau Baron repeat his come-from-behind ride at Taft; this time, he completed the first lap in 23rd and by the finish was up to 12th overall, 13 seconds ahead of CST KTM teammate Mitch Anderson while Northland Motorsports Kawasaki-mounted Clay Hengeveld got a last-place start and rebounded to claim third.
The WCGP Women Pro class was light on entries, possibly due to some high-profile motocross qualifiers going on elsewhere, but that mattered little to Brandy Richards who switched from her previous YZ250F to a nearly stock WR450F and won handily over Honda-mounted Lauren Hammond.
2017 AMA District 37/Maxxis Big 6 Grand Prix Series
25th Annual Prairie Dogs Grand Prix
Glen Helen Raceway Park
San Bernardino, California
Results: March 4, 2017 (Round 3 of 8)
WCGP PRO
1. Zach Bell-Hon
2. Trevor Stewart-Hon
3. Eric Yorba-KTM
4. Robby Bell-Kaw
5. Blayne Thompson-Hon
6. Jeff Loop
7. Justin Seeds-Kaw
8. Michael Del Fante-Yam
9. Mark Samuels-Hon
10. Travis Damon-Hon
WCGP PRO II
1. Beau Baron-Hon
2. Mitch Anderson-KTM
3. Clay Hengeveld-Kaw
4. Trystan Hart
5. Jordan Gamboa-KTM
6. Kai Mukai-Yam
7. Trevor Hunter-Yam
8. Jacob Clements-Bet
9. Cooper Abbott-Yam
10. Chance Fullerton-Yam
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