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As luck would have it, once the clay had dried on the Red Bud circuit, the motocross god’s finally touched the wings of Short in his best round yet. When the day had started, things appeared to be rather normal. Andrew came out of qualifying where one would expect him to be, in 15th, but moto one proved to more fruitful with Short getting off the gate in 11th. Passed early on by Musquin, Short dropped to 12th for the entire first half of the race. At this point, things are okay, 12th is good but as the clock had ticked to the halfway mark. Short had re-acquired 11th place and set his sights on the top ten for the first time this year. Eventually, with less than five minutes left to go, Short made it by a fading Bogle to reach 10th in the final
moments of moto one. Finally, Sir Short had broken the illustrious seal. Two laps later, with three laps left in the race, Phil Nicoletti was forced to pull off which allowed Short to take another lemon, strengthening his mid-summer lemonade in route to a 9th place moto finish, Short’s best in 2016. Already counting Red Bud as a Victory, there was still a second moto for Short to test himself, where he would match his moto one start to reach 11th very early in the race. Dropping to Peick and then Benny Bloss, Short had fallen to 13th by lap five where he would settle. Being hounded by Justin Brayton in 14th, the charge was short- lived as Andrew gained some breathing room late in the race before making a another move around Nicoletti for 12th before the checkered flag was waved. Finishing the day with a 9th and a 12th, Short was able to secure 11th overall and although outside of the top ten, it was Andrew’s best result thus far and will undoubtedly remain a cherry on top of his final year. Next up on his journey to retirement is Southwick, where Short is sure to put in two more solid finishes.
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