Page 108 - Issue_39

JASON ANDERSON
450 SX / 19TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> Having already seen the ups and downs of professional racing, already, through the first eight rounds, Jason Anderson continues to impress with intermittent flashes of brilliance. He entered the season coming off a collarbone injury, leading to some shoulder soreness at the opening rounds and was also disqualified at Anaheim 2, earlier this season, after an altercation with Vince Friese. Since then, Jason has struggled to show his capabilities. With the rear end sideways and one leg hanging off the back, though, El Hombre has the speed and style to always be considered a top contender. In Toronto, this past Saturday, the night appeared to show promise as the #21 grabbed a holeshot in heat two. Anderson being out front early is definitely a good sign but falling to Tomac in the first main rhythm, Anderson was forced to latch on to Eli’s rear fender for the remainder of the moto. The good news for Jason was his ability to stay within a few seconds of Tomac whereas the bad news would be that he was unable to challenge the green #3 in any fashion. All in all, he was in the main and needed to only focus on the twenty minutes that were about to transpire.
Getting another solid jump out of the gate and taking the first turn wide in 5th behind Vince Friese, Jason got aggressive and tried to angle his line towards the inside. Coming in hot to turn two, Anderson’s line crossed with Friese, the same rider
he made contact with at round three, and the two came together. In the process, Friese’s peg lodged inside the front wheel of Anderson, snapping some spokes and thus, forcing the #21 to pull off for wheel change. Due to the misfortune, it only took three minute and Anderson was already lapped. Understanding the task ahead of him, now being back on the track, El Hombre knew it was time to turn up the volume. Coming from way behind, it took the #21 a while to reach the actual rider in 21st but after 13 minutes of hard labor, the #21 finally was able to pick up the position by get- ting around Adam Enticknap. Anderson wasn’t through, either, as a couple laps later Jason had gotten around Cody Gilmore as well, putting the Husqvarna in 20th. Run- ning out of time, Anderson made one final move to get around Schmidt and made his way into the top twenty, savoring every last point possible. Of course, the night is a critical blow to the championship hopes of Anderson but at the very least, round 9 was more proof that Anderson could be a serious threat in the remaining rounds.
108 GRITMOTO • MARCH 5, 2017