Page 79 - GRID4

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THEGRID!
BENJAMIN SMITH
SMITH
The first qualifying session ended up being the one that sorted the grid due to inclement weather on saturday morning and Smith completely dominated as the only rider to break into the 2:49’s,
easily claiming another pole position to add to his tally for the year. The Quarterly Racing/On Track Development rider executed a solid start in the opening race as he separated himself from the ensuing pack along with Jackson Blackmon. The two riders scrapped back and forth throughout the first couple of laps, but Smith decided to hang back after he realized that Blackmon was being penalized for jumping the start. At that point, he had inherited practically a ten second gap ahead of second place and cruised to an uncontested victory, marking his third win of the season thus far. The second race presented a little bit more of a challenge for the rider out of Pennsylvania as he found himself in a
three way battle for the lead throughout the entire race. Blackmon was out for revenge after his mishap in the opening race and Cory Ventura joined in after missing the first race due to a bike issue. The three of them swapped places back and forth on each and every lap, utilizing the slipstream down the humongous straightaways at Road America in order to set up passing maneuvers.
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