Page 108 - NOVEMBER-18

3 COLTEN EIGENMANN >>
With Titusville, Florida being quite the haul for the Eigenmann crew, there was a slight toss-up and decision-making process, of whether or not they should come to this event. With gas prices skyrocketing due to recent hurricane damage, and their location being in Central Florida, it was a tough call at one point of whether or not to pack up and head to the Wild West. However, after weighing out the positives of the equation, the amount of competition, track condition, and attention you would receive in running this event, they decided to head on out to the Sooner state, ready to generate some solid finishes. They decided on riding the 250 Open class, for
a bit of a challenge with all skill levels, and extra seat time. With his precise starting technique and enhanced reaction time, he came off the gate like a bad out of hell, hitting his shifting points to the T; and it was here where he would generate a third place position to begin the moto. Run- ning in the low one minute, and fifty second range, he would try his hardest to pace that of Kniff- ing and Schwartz, but those two were seemingly out for blood. Eigenmann, finding his groove aboard the Yamaha, would sit soundly in third, almost waiting for something to happen; as he was in no man’s land. He had
a bit of a hefty cushion over Izaih Clark, and the first two were tad too far out to really do much damage. However, with the mistake from Schwartz, Eigenmann was within reaching distance in order to capture the
108 MPG • NOVEMBER • 2018
THE MOTOPLAYGROUND RACE
at Ponca City
second place position; but it was too little, too late, and he would go on to finish third. For round number two, the track was quite a bit more technical, in regards to pure track conditions. The lines had been notoriously deepened, and some of them even inter-woven; meaning that if you start in one line, you could end up in the groove of someone else. But with Eigenmann’s tremendous start, there wasn’t much he had to worry about, other than reel- ing in Dilan Schwartz. With the number 74 just a bit too far out in the distance,
Eigenmann would use the California native to pace off of, constantly gaug- ing the distance and reassessing. He knew that if he could somewhat stay on the same lane as Schwartz, then he should be sitting pretty, in regards to fighting of Kaed Kniffing. Kniffing, who had a rather forgetful start, was coming up through the pack fast; yet Eigenmann was resilient enough to keep fighting forward, and focusing on the end goal. And that’s exactly what he would do, taking second for the moto, and garnering third overall.