Page 102 - ISSUE_37

KYLE PETERS
250 SX / MN.
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / COPELAND DESIGN / WILSON
>> Recent JGR Suzuki fill in signee, Kyle Peters, is coming into the season on as good of a team as he has ever been on. Hired to ride in place of the injured Matt Bisceglia, Peters is looking to make good on
his new opportunity and turn out a finish that will put him in the hunt for the championship. He would start the day off with a 10th place qualifying position, which is not too bad when you consider that this is his first race on the new bike with the new team. He would however, not perform the same in his heat race finishing 8th, off the pace of the fast lap times. He went his fastest with a 51.845 lap time which was a considerable amount slower than where he would need to be to finish inside of the top 10 in the main. On a night where starts as important as ever, the new Suzuki rider wouldn’t get what anyone would consider a good start and was 20th on the opening lap. He would have a lot of ground to make up to salvage a decent finish. Peters began to pick off riders once the race was under way and he gained 6 positions in as many minutes coming in just behind Locurcio with around 9 and a half minutes remaining on the clock. The veteran rider used his experience to charge all the way into 9th by the end of the race. After a rough start to his main he found a way to get back on track and make a bad night into a decent one. He was pushing it all the way to the end and passed Wentland on the second to last lap of the main. In his first race with JGR he showed that he can overcome ad- versity and pass on a track that seemed to be deteriorated and one lined. With more time on the new bike and testing with the team, Peters will be a regular inside the top 10 and possibly a top 5 threat.
102 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 19, 2017