Page 116 - ISSUE_37

LORENZO LOCURCIO
250 SX / MN.
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / COPELAND DESIGN / WILSON
>> Venezuelan born, Lorenzo Locurcio is an up and coming young tal- ent that has been in the US training at Millsaps Training Facility for quite some time now. He had a somewhat successful amateur career on big bikes and was able to land a pro ride last season with the Cycle Trader/ Rock River Yamaha team. This weekend’s opening round was Locur- cio’s first ever Supercross race and he was looking to start the year off with a good finish inside of the new stadium at Minneapolis. Qualifying appeared to be a bit of a learning experience for him as he was the 22nd fastest rider on the track when the qualifying sessions concluded. This would mean he would have a midfield gate selection and could hinder his start on a track that was shaping up to be one lined. His first gate drop of his young career would lead to a 7th place finish. He was slightly off the pace running a decent fast lap of 51.531 and finished 29.223 seconds off of the heat winner. He however made his first main event in one try and didn’t have to try his luck in the LCQ. The main wouldn’t start off too great for the rookie, coming across the line on the first lap in 16th. The rookie would fight tooth and nail for the next 6 minutes of the race and climb inside the top 15 to 13th with just under 10 mins remaining in the main. He would ride the rest of the race in almost the same position, going on to finish 14th in his Supercross debut. The rookie didn’t set the world on fire today but he achieved his first top 15 at a Supercross and came out of his first race healthy, with an entire season ahead to gain the tools needed to climb the leader board.
116 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 19, 2017