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ANTHONY RODRIGUEZ
250 SX / 9TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> The Venezuelan phenom of Anthony Rodriguez has been a consistent threat in the main event thus far in the 2017 season. Despite missing the second round of the East coast series in Atlanta, Rodriguez sat comfortably in 10th in the
point standings coming into Detroit, for round six, this past Saturday night. As racing got underway in Ford Field for heat one, Rodriguez got off on the wrong foot when he made contact with another rider and was tasked with surviving
the sketch of the first lap in the middle of the pack. Anthony didn’t waste time, though, moving into a transfer spot as the second lap commenced. Holding it wide around the Talladega-style turn after the finish line, Rodriguez managed to reach 5th place momentarily before relinquishing the position to Zach Osborne and falling to 6th for the remaining few laps. Transferring straight to the main, A-Rod’s luck had the right side of the coin flipped up as he avoided a first turn pileup and took 7th into the heart of the opening lap. After holding down the posi- tion for the majority of the second lap, Rodriguez made a mistake before the start of the third and dropped back to 18th in a blink of an eye. The get-off put An- thony out of the lead pack but the race was still in its infant stages. Knowing the clock was ticking, Rodriguez put in work to reach 16th, before sliding into 14th
a lap and a half later. In the flow as the moto wore on, A-rod continued forward and slipped around four riders as the race entered its final five minutes. Now behind Lorenzo Locurcio, Rodriguez held 10th a mere six seconds back of 9th. The time continuing to count down, Rodriguez planned an assault as he drew closer to Lorenzo in the races final minute. Pulling the trigger as the field crossed the finish line with two laps to go, Rodriguez got to 9th before the white flag was raised and took the top ten spot home for his best finish since the opening round in Minneapolis. Heading to St. Louis next weekend, the #49 will look for some continued success.
78 GRITMOTO • MARCH 26, 2017