Page 134 - ISSUE32

KILLIAN AUBERSON
250 SX / SD
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> The rider hailing from the neutral state of Switzerland, Killian Aub- erson has been enjoying some success here stateside over the past few seasons. He has only made a few night shows leading into 2017 but he seems to always be fighting for those final transfer spots. This time around however, Auberson put in the extra work in the offseason to try and not have to worry about those sketchy LCQ races and just get main event advances straight from the heat races. He did a good job of that at the season opener at Anaheim one week ago and looked to do some more of the same here this week at San Diego. The Swede struggled a bit in qualifying practice only coming out with the twenty-fifth fastest time but knew just a decent start in the heat would get him on
to the main. In the heat, he was not able to get that decent start but he still was in workable position in twelfth place. He hopped up to elev- enth early on and then with two laps to go, passed Bryce Stewart and a downed Justin Starling to take over the ninth and final transfer spot for the second week in a row. A qualification straight out of the heat is a dream scenario for a privateer and Auberson is 2/2 at it so far this year.
Auberson started the main buried a bit back in fifteenth and tried to weather the storm which is the first few laps of supercross. Riders jos- tling for position all over the track would hinder him and push him back to finish eighteenth place over the course of the race. The Swede rider is still happy to be getting in the mains but if this becomes the norm, he will not be happy unless he’s putting his privateer KTM inside the top fifteen.
134 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 15, 2017