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BLAKE BAGGETT
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / TILLS
>> Lions, Tigers, Pistons, Spartans, Wolverines; you name it, the state of Michigan
has been branded by it, with a rightful mascot. However there’s another name you can throw into the hat; and although not synonymous with a team, he’s a one-manned effort, literally willing to go out on his shield. He’s a true warrior, that’s been battle tested time and time again. He goes by Blake Baggett and he’s stepping up to the lead the charge at Red Bud Track and Trail. Sloshing through the piles of sand throughout the early morning fog, he prevailed with a solid effort throughout qualifying, rallying to achieve the pedestalled 2:00 mark. As the stands began to fill for the opening moto, so did the gate, each rider being refreshed with water from their respective mechanic; he had his pre- race memo, a final fist bump from his partner and crime, and he was ready to unleash. The gate falls, he blitzes into the gradual left bend before hitting the binders in the next right. Baggett is in third, Musquin, and Craig ahead. The chupacabra must strike, but not too early, looking for the prey to succumb due to fatigue. He stalked, zapping Craig first. Next it was that of Marvin Musquin, as he watched Tomac dismantle the number 25, and the orange appearing now closer and closer in the foreground. Baggett would push his way around, now it was only he and Tomac; with the smack talking of late looming as a cloud over their helmets. Baggett would turn his fastest laps of the moto
in the closing laps, scrubbing, and flatlanding off of every single in sight; the number 4’s front fender being inked with rubber marks, as the suspension was bottoming out on the Michigan soil. Closing the gap to near one second, he was just short at the checkered flag; he would take runner-up. The number 4 was nowhere to be found in moto number two, registering 35th across timing and scoring. Leapfrogging ten’s of riders at a time, the win seemed to be out of grasp, but he just had to reach for every point possible, in order to muster a points lead coming out of here. You could see the rage in his eyes, as he drug the footpeg to the right over the finish line tabletop, clicking up gears as fast as he could upon landing. Pushing past some of the top riders in the sport, time had seem to run out as the laps dwindled down, and the field was spaced out. He would just get around Trey Canard by moto’s end, finishing a disappointing tenth; the fourth overall wasn’t what was planned, but he knew he could seek revenge at the following round.
16 GRITMOTO • JULY 2, 2017