Page 59 - GRID-4

CONNERBLEVINS
SUPERSPORT
Blevins was able to succeed in the tricky qualifying conditions on Saturday morning as he put his Kawasaki on the third row of the
grid in eighth position with a 1:32.958. As the lights went out to signify the start of the first race, he blasted his EMR Excel Racing
Kawasaki into the first corner and made up one spot, settling into seventh position.
Blevins continued to move up the order as he made a quick move on Anthony Mazziotto II on the first flying lap, shifting his attention to the Team Hammer Suzuki of Brandon Paasch ahead of him. One lap later, Blevins was able to force his way past the defending RC390 Cup Champion and establish
himself at the front of a five rider pack. The gap to the podium was too large to Benny Solis Jr. in third position was a big ask, but Blevins had fourth place on lockdown, first in the Superstock 600 class, for the opening half of the race. Just before the midway point, he came under pressure from the Yamaha of Michael Gilbert and he wasn’t able to hold him off, falling back to fifth position. He still remained on Superstock 600 podium, but there was a gaggle of fast riders nipping at his heels. In the final third of the race, Blevins was shuffled down the order to tenth place overall. The Kawasaki rider was able to claw his way back to ninth on the final lap, missing out on the Superstock 600 podium by a couple of positions. In the second race, he displayed the same early race pace as he stormed his way to the front of the field on the first lap. Blevins sat comfortably in fifth position behind Nick McFadden, but he wasn’t content as he immediately made the move around the Kentuckian to promote himself to fourth place. The overall podium began to slip away and Blevins did his best to hold onto the lead in the Superstock 600 class, but McFadden struck back a couple of laps later. The two of them were involved in a fierce battle until Gilbert made his way to the front, overtaking both of them on the same lap. Blevins dropped back behind McFadden and stayed there until the twelfth lap when he was demoted to seventh place by Jason Aguilar. At that point, he lost touch with the riders in front of him and rode a fairly lonely race all the way until the checkered flag where he finished 7th place, one spot off of the elusive Superstock 600 podium.
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