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RJ Hampshire has been slowly trending upwards over recent weeks and wanted more of the same at Washougal. He kicked things off Saturday morning with two pretty solid qualifying sessions coming away with the twelfth fastest time. He knew all he needed was a start and he could be fighting right up in the
front. A good start is what Hampshire needed but he would get the complete opposite to kick off the first moto. He was absolutely buried on the opening lap and emerged in twentieth at the green flag. Despite the poor start he starting making ground rather quickly and hopped up into fifteenth just five minutes into the moto. After another lap or two he slid into thirteenth but then would go down and drop way back. He remounted in twenty-sixth and tried to repeat the charge he put forth at the start of the race. He never gave up and ended up clawing up to eighteenth place. Hampshire was hoping for a much better second moto but he suffered from another bad start. He rounded the opening lap in fifteenth place and looked to start moving up. He did not have that burst like he did in the first moto but he slowly chugged forward. He was up to twelfth with five to go and looked primed to finish there but a bobble in the final laps sent him back to fourteenth where he would finish. 18-14 moto scores for fifteenth overall were not the results he was looking for and his old demons haunted him, crashes and bad starts. He will likely use this two-week break to work on his starts and improve his consistency.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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