Page 194 - MPG_JAN_2017

Girls (9-11)
M NIELSEN
IMAGE / WONDERGOAT WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> The Kawasaki duo of Mikayla Nielsen and Karie Wilson got out front early in the final Girls (9-11) moto of the 45th annual Thor Winter Olympics. Nielsen separated herself from the green machine in tow by a slight gap of 1.5 sec- onds as they crossed the finish line for the first time. The two of them had broken away from the rest of the field by quite
a healthy margin; Hayzley Freeman and Sissy Livingston found themselves in a battle for the final podium spot. Wilson made a mistake on the second lap and lost valuable time to Nielsen out front, she was able to set faster lap times than the Californian out front, but the damage was already done as the lead had grown to over 10 seconds due to the early mishap. Freeman was able to make the pass on Livingston on the penultimate lap, securing a podium finish as well as 3rd place overall in the process. Nielsen did a brilliant job of controlling the race from the lead; her last two laps were only a couple of hundredths apart from one another. She went on to win the championship over Wilson with the better second moto score as the pair of them traded moto victories, making it a Kawasaki 1-2 when the racing came to a close.
194 MPG • JANUARY 2017