Page 37 - GRID-4

HAYDEN GILLIM
VIRGINIA!
VIRgInIa InternatIonal
Raceway
HAYDEN GILLIM | BAZZAZ SUPERSTOCK 1000
Hayden Gillim had an exceptional start to the weekend as his flat tracking background propelled
him to the fourth fastest overall time after a couple of rain soaked sessions on Friday. The Kentucky native struggled to get his bike where he wanted it as he continues to adapt to the 2017 GSX-R1000R, narrowly missing out on Superpole by a couple of spots, eventually qualifying in fourteenth position. Gillim made some improvements when the lights went out as he advanced a couple of positions throughout the first couple of laps, moving up to twelfth position behind Bryce Prince. Josh Hayes made a mistake at the front of the field and dropped back just behind the Cycle World Suzuki rider, providing him a bit of a tow to the pair of riders ahead of him after he made his move. Gillim took advantage of the situation and launched an attack on Prince after Hayes displaced him from his race rhythm, promoting himself to eleventh position behind Danny Eslick. He stalked the Yamaha rider
for five laps in a row until he finally made a pass stick, leading the trio in a battle for tenth spot. Due to some carnage further up the field, it immediately turned into a battle for eighth and Kyle Wyman joined the fray after making up ground following an early mistake. The four-way fight lasted a couple of laps and Gillim was pushed to the back as his race pace began to fall off. He did what he could
to turn consistent laps and eventually brought his GSX-R1000R home in tenth position, fifth in the Superstock 1000 class. In the second race, Gillim got off to a much better start as he immediately put himself in eleventh position behind his fellow statesman, Jake Lewis. It was a fairly processional race for the Kentuckian as he gained one spot on the opening lap and maintained tenth position all the way until the checkered flag. Gillim improved his pace from Saturday by almost a full second, running a total time more than twelve seconds faster than Saturday’s on his way to a fourth place finish in the Superstock 1000 class.
WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
37