Page 12 - NOVEMBER-18

DEREK DRAKE
Leaving Loretta Lynn’s with awards and championships galore leaves a huge target on your back, especially when you’re the top competitor of the A class. Pressure of being the most highly touted prospect, coupled with trying to impress professional teams of all sizes and brands can be tough on a competitor of teenage years. But Derek Drake is a rare breed, showing week after week that he’s a hot commodity on the scale of riders to burst through the amateur scene in recent years. With KTM supporting him for a seemingly long time now, it’s as though all things are firing in the correct manner as he takes the leap of faith into the profes- sional ranks. But before he can seemingly call it a day on his amateur career, he wanted to leave a lasting impression on the crowd of Las Vegas, Nevada and
the Monster Energy Cup. Tenacious practice laps were thrown down in consecutive fashion, seemingly one after another, replicating a mini-race session within it- self. Never losing his breath or focus, he headed to the trailer to assess his performance, and plan an attack on the field for the main event. As the gate would drop for moto one, Drake’s plans went to scrap, as a tenth place start left him very disappointed. But quickly changing the negative to a positive, he would fight and claw for
every position within this six lap main event. Scrubbing and wheel tapping everything in sight, he would flourish although navigating through traffic. Never losing his rhythm, he would blitz past riders like Jesse Flock and Johnny Garcia. Each opponent who surrendered meant a spot for his garnering, and closer to this champion- ship at the end of the night. His 250f was on the brink of disaster at times, ringing the stroke to the top of the chamber, yet he and motorcycle would hold on; he would finish sixth, and look to thoroughly improve for the main event. Moto number two meanwhile, could simply be called the “Derek Drake Show.” An astonish- ing effort saw him out to a lead that would captivate
the entire crowd, stretching his gap lap after lap. There wasn’t any dabbing of the foot or spinning of the rear tire, everything was sound and mistake free. He would roll onto the throttle in the apex of the corners, leaving no trail of loose or aggressive manner to be traced. Pulling every lap from Jalek Swoll, Derek Drake would cross the line seemingly in solitude, leaving the rest of the field to decide on who would finish where. Although the first moto wasn’t too his liking, he would rebound with the moto win, taking third overall.
12 MPG • NOVEMBER • 2018
R
G
Y
A
L
U
N
P
D
O
O
R
O
E
P
H
T
R
4
O
T
R
T
U
N
E
DE
E
1
O
S
P
E
G
M
0
N
R
2
O
T
M
S
S
N
T
O
I
W
H
C
T
A
RIDERS TO WATCH IN 2014
100
THE
DIRTY
W
W
M
W
O
.
C
.
M
D
N
O
U
O
R
G
T
O
P
L
A
S
Y