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GARED STEINKE
ARENACROSS
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> ‘Stank Dog’ put his Motosport Hillsboro Kawasaki in a very competitive position right off the bat in Grand Rapids with an 8th place qualifying time. Steinke put in a solid start and turned fast laps in the second heat race of the AX class as he was able to fend off the challenge from Smartop MotoConcept’s McAdoo and finish fourth place, putting him in the Head 2 Head challenge. The California native put in one of the most exciting battles of the night against Gavin Faith in the first round as the two were side-by-side through the whoops section for the entirety of the first lap. Eventu- ally, Steinke was forced to make way for his fellow Kawasaki rider and he just barely missed out on the win. He didn’t get the start that he needed to put himself in a competitive position through- out the first main event. His Motosport Hillsboro Kawasaki got off to an atrocious start that put him around thirteenth the first time across the line and he was forced to play catch up for the entirety of the main. He eventually worked his way back up to ninth posi- tion, but it was a challenging race for the California native. Steinke wasn’t able to get the start in the second main event either as he crossed the stripe in about ninth position the first time around. He put in some quick moves before the halfway point of the race, and eventually worked his way up to a sixth place finish. Although the results weren’t there this weekend for Stank Dawg, he showed speed and will look to improve his starts heading into Baltimore.
54 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 15, 2017