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AARON PLESSINGER
250 SX / AZ
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / LANNAN DESIGN / WILSON
>> Aaron Plessinger was (and still is) a championship favorite coming into the 2017 West Region season. The Ohio kid is long overdue for a title and was hoping this would be the year. For the last few weeks, Aaron had been hoping for mud races as it seemed inevitable with the SoCal rain, but luck was not in his favor as the DirtWurx crew was able to work the tracks into prime condi- tion each weekend. Now, going into the first football stadium of the year, rain will not be an issue due to the roof and Aaron was forced to find his way to the front in regular track conditions. It seemed he had accepted the fact that the hope for a mud race was over as he was flying in practice on Saturday morn- ing in Arizona. He qualified a strong 3rd place and was ready to carry the mo- mentum to the night show. When 250 Heat two began, Aaron did not get the start he needed. He rounded the first corner inside the top ten and definitely had some work to do if he wanted to get a good gate pick for the Main Event. By the second lap, Aaron had made his way up to 6th and was putting down some fast laps. He continued to make up time on the riders and had found his self in 3rd place by the third lap. He would go on to the Main determined to get a better start. Unfortunately, Aaron did not fulfill his wish and got a terrible start in the Main because he was forced to let off the throttle after locking bars with Davalos going down the start straight. Although he avoided the crash, he was nearly in last place but began passing as many guys as fast as he could. He had worked his way into an impressive 9th place by the time they saw
the green flag on just the first lap. Aaron picked up another position quickly and on the second lap, he was able to take the inside in the sand section and muscle his way passed teammate Reardon for 7th. Aaron was on a mission as he made his way passed Nicoletti the next lap. He was then handed the next spot because of a rider’s mistake soon after. Aaron’s freight train finally ended as he reached 4th place because the lead was too big to cut down. He settled in and rode to an impressive 4th place finish despite a last place start. He now sits 3rd in points just 10 points off the lead.
30 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 29, 2017