Page 67 - GRID4

BRANDONPAASCH
SUPERSPORT
Paasch was incredibly impressive throughout the first couple sessions considering he hardly had anytime on the Yamaha. The
youngster adapted to the new machine in a hurry and overcame challenging conditions in qualifying in order to place himself in the
middle of the third row on the grid in eighth position with a 2:36.301. Paasch was able to maintain ninth position on the opening lap of the first race as he found himself engulfed in a battle with Jason Aguilar and Jody Barry. The three of them mixed it up for the first few laps, but Paasch eventually got the better of the pair and settled into eight position, directly behind JC Camacho. The battle raged on as he dropped back to tenth position on the very next lap as he began to battle with grip issues in the changing track conditions. The New Jersey native wasn’t able to stick to the back of the group as he fell off the pace for the last couple of laps, eventually finishing four seconds behind Aguilar in ninth place. The pristine conditions of the second race presented Paasch with a clean slate and he took advantage of the opportunity by jumping towards the front of the field on the opening lap. The Yamaha rider carved his way up to sixth place on the opening lap, finding himself vying for position with one of his season long rivals, Benny Solis Jr. The two of them moved past Shane Richardson into fourth and fifth position on the third lap, commencing
a titanic scrap for the first spot off the podium. Paasch remained patient for the majority of the race, shadowing Solis Jr’s lines until he finally pounced on the CBR600RR with only a couple of laps to go. The Californian fought right back and Paasch had no answer, forcing him to settle for fifth position. The sixteen year old is hoping to put together some sponsors and some funding so that he can show up to race the west coast rounds, but he’ll most likely have to regroup and come back swinging for the last three rounds of the season on the east coast.
WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
67
GRIDmoto