Page 79 - GRID-4

BENJAMIN SMITH
BENJAMIN SMITH | KTM RC390 CUP
Smith carried his exceptional form from the opening round of the series at Road Atlanta into qualifying at VIR by putting his Quarterly Racing/On Track Development KTM on pole position
yet again. He clocked a 1:42.310 which was almost half of a second faster than the second place qualifier, proving himself as the man to beat when the lights went out for the first race. Smith got shuffled back out of the top three at the start and was forced to make a move past Gavin Anthony on the opening lap, sticking to back of Draik Beauchamp and Jackson Blackmon in first and second position. The three of them began to break away from the rest of the field and established themselves in a battle of their own for the remainder of the twelve lap race. Smith and Beauchamp duffed one another up throughout the first couple of laps in a flashback to Road Atlanta, slipstreaming each other down the front straightaway at every opportunity. The two of them settled down for a couple of laps and Smith followed in Blackmon’s wheel tracks, plotting his move for
the end of the race. The gloves came off in the last six laps and the three riders swapped positions countless times as Smith finally secured the lead for the first time in the race. He did his best to break the slipstream on the final lap, but he wasn’t able to do so and he ended up getting drafted to the line by both Beauchamp and Blackmon, forcing him to settle for third position. In the second race, the same trio put themselves at the front in the early stages of the race, but that’s about all that remained the same. Smith experienced a nasty crash in turn two that put him out of contention for the remainder of the race, but he still managed to maintain his championship lead heading into the fourth round of the series at Road America.
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