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BRADLEY TAFT
250 MX / 14TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / ROEWER DESIGN / TILLS
>> After making his pro debut in this race one year ago, Bradley Taft went onto race Supercross where he sustained a bad head injury leaving him sidelined most of the year leading up to Outdoors. With this being his first full year racing the pro motocross series, it has been a tremendous learning experience for the Cycle Trader/Rock River/ Yamaha rider, hoping to improve on his results each weekend. Heading into round ten, Taft is coming off his two best finishes of the year and is pumped full of confidence. Qualifying 8th for the day things were looking up for the young, almost rookie rider. Struggling to get the power to the ground out of the gate, Taft was sitting back around 20th through the first turn of moto one. With the same amount of riders in front of him as behind him, Taft was making sure the number of riders behind him was increasing not decreas- ing. Making slow progress forward, he was able to grab several positions up
to 15th before the end of the first moto. After sitting through the rain delay, Taft had some extra time to clear his mind before the second moto. Even though the track conditions had completely changed, Taft made the best of it and got
a much better start out of the gate. Sliding around in 12th through the first turn, the Cycle Trader/ Rock River/ Yamaha rider was in a much better position compared to his moto one start. Hanging onto 12th for a few laps before mak- ing a small mistake in the mud, Taft was riding pretty consistent considering the challenging conditions. Hanging onto 13th until the end of the moto, Taft was able to get one of his best moto finishes of the season. After an exciting day of racing Bradley went 15-13 for the day grabbing himself a 14th overall finish for round ten of the season.
84 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 13, 2017