Page 72 - Issue34

PHIL NICOLETTI
250 SX / AZ
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Filthy Phil Nicoletti’s drop down to the 250 class has been hampered with misfortune. Nicoletti has looked fast aboard his AutoTrader/JGR/ Yoshimura Suzuki throughout the first three rounds but the bobbles that he frequently had in the 450 class have followed him down. And he has not mastered the holeshot on a consistent basis on the smaller machine; contradicting his success with them on the 450. Nonetheless, Nicoletti is still a threat each week if he can put it all the pieces together.
Nicoletti did nail a fantastic start in his heat race hopping across the stripe in second place. He was sandwiched between the three main title contenders with Hill in front and Plessinger and McElrath behind. De- spite that, he was able to stay in the zone and refuse to give the young guns any extra position. He rode hard and would end up holding off both Plessinger and McElrath to secure second place for the heat.
Filthy Phil failed to duplicate his hot start from the heat race rounding the opening lap in seventh place. However, he still had some of that momen- tum from the heat race as he started making some moves dicing up to fifth after a few laps. He, Plessinger, Reardon, and Decotis enjoyed some of the most entertaining racing on the track as they all swapped positions back and forth for a better part of the race. But as the race began to wind down, so did Nicoletti. He had climbed all the way to fifth but he started steadily dropping positions until he ended up in ninth place for the night. Some small mistakes late did their number on Phil but his performance early on showed that he has what it takes to be a contender in that top five.
72 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 29, 2017