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COLE MARTINEZ
250 SX / SD
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> The Arizona native, Cole Martinez jumped out to a mid-pack start in his heat race but ran into some early trouble and faded away from transfer spot contention. Having a tough heat race, Cole looked to improve upon his night in the LCQ and luck-
ily grabbed the last available spot to the main, finishing fourth. Despite having the last gate pick, the #53 was able to start mid-pack and held his 14th place spot strong over the course of the first few laps. As the riders started to shuffle as the race hit the half way point, Martinez had moved up to 10th, hitting the rhythms right and finding his groove on the San Diego soil. Holding onto the final top-ten spot, Cole began to get tested
by Hayden Mellross close behind, and gave up the spot near the 7-minute mark. The two riders were separated by a mere second until the 12th spot of Josh Hansen showed a wheel and also got around Martinez shortly after Mellross had made the move. With his energy now evaporated after the fight for 10th, Cole began to drop off the pace and settle in 12th, allow- ing Hansen and Mellross to pull away. With only a few minutes left to go, Martinez rode as strong as possible and held off the remaining challengers to finish there, improving upon his dis- mal season opener performance. The #53 hopes to keep the momentum alive and keep moving up the ladder as the season heads back to Anaheim next Saturday.