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MATT GOERKE
ARENACROSS
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> The Florida resident of Matt Goerke was looking comfortable on his Yamaha throughout both practice sessions as he headed into racing in the third fastest qualifying spot. Goerke held that position all the way through the first heat race as he rounded out the podium behind Faith and Blose after his first gate drop of the evening. He was stacked up against the red plate holder, Jace Owen, in the Head 2 Head challenge and wasn’t able to hang with the TiLube / Jack Link’s / TUF Racing Honda rider right out of the gate. He was looking for his revenge in the main events and showed that he had the speed to run up front, but his starts hindered his capabilities in both mains. Goerke got off to a fifth place start in the first main, just behind Ben Lamay and his teammate, Chris Blose. He was able to make quick work of Lamay after the Honda rider made a mistake, and then he immediately focused on closing the gap to the front. Goerke inherited the final podium position after Hayes knocked himself out of the race with only a couple of laps to go, putting him in third place going into the second main. He started outside the
top five in the second main which allowed the leaders to sort of get away at the front of the field. Goerke showed that he had the speed to run with the top three, but there wasn’t enough of a discrepancy in their pace to make up the time in such a short race format. The Floridian was able to take advantage of a mistake by Faith as well as work his way around McAdoo in order to finish 4th, putting him 3rd overall on the night.
46 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 15, 2017