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DEREK DRAKE
Derek Drake ended the 2017 racing season with some strong results from the east coast of the country to the west. The California native wrapped up a title at Loretta Lynn’s in the B class before graduating to the A class before the Thor Winter Olympics. Drake found immediate success during his first major race in the expert class as he left Florida with a number one plate as well as a second place overall. Drake has proven that he’s able to match the speed of his KTM Orange Brigade teammate, Mitchell Falk, since moving up to the A class and both riders put themselves at the forefront of the field in practice at Angels Stadium. In almost every race, the Troy Lee Designs Red Bull KTM duo found themselves in close proximity on the race track, but Drake wasn’t able to get the better of his teammate. He had the speed to win but an early mistake in the 250 A class held him back to a fifth place finish. In the last main event of the night, Drake pulled the holeshot ahead of Falk and main- tained the lead for the first half of the race, but he wasn’t able to hold on until the checkered flag.
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MPG • FEBRUARY • 2018