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Mitchell Oldenburg entered the scenic Washougal national with the goal of redeeming himself after a subpar
performance a week ago at Millville. He looked fresh in qualifying practice en route to the seventh quickest lap time. He seemed ready to get back up to contending at the front. The first moto started off with promise for the Texas product rounding lap one in seventh and hopping into sixth by lap two. He began putting pressure on Zach Osborne but could not make a move. That opened the door for Webb to pass a few laps in and Plessinger and Cianciarulo quickly followed him through. Oldenburg tried to settle into ninth but another duo in Hill and Tonus came swooping through pushing him back to eleventh just ten minutes in. He hunkered down and moved by Harrison at
the halfway point to get back inside the top ten. He seemed to have the spot locked until late in the moto when Forkner would speed by sending him back to eleventh where he would finish. Oldenburg got off to a better start in the second moto rounding a chaotic lap one in fourth place. He tried taking advantage but he began losing more positions. He fell back to sixth after a few laps and engaged in a battle with Osborne before surrendering the position. He was in seventh and would fall back three more spots to tenth by the halfway point. In the second half of the moto Oldenburg seemed to find himself and began creeping back up on the riders ahead. He started to pressure Tonus and Cianciarulo late in the moto but would not be able to make moves on them. Oldenburg would end up ninth in the moto making it 11-9 moto scores on the day for tenth overall. Although he still struggled with falling backwards early in the motos, he didn’t fall back as far the previous week and still managed to nail a top ten overall.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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