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AARON PLESSINGER
250 SX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Aaron Plessinger had a long seven weeks to mull over the fact that he had failed to win a main event so far here in 2017. He has visibly been the fastest rider on the course on several occasions but dismal starts have seriously held him back. He spent the break hard at work training and perfecting his craft, especially holeshots, to come out swinging in the Pacific Northwest. He had a little extra motivation pushing him in the weeks leading up to the race due to the passing of his lifelong friend and racer Cody Gragg and his dad Chris. He really wanted to bring home a win for the two of them so that is what he aimed to do when the 250 West Coast series resumed in Seattle.
The poor, damp weather during the week seemed to excite Plessinger because he knew it would make the track extra soft and muddy. He thrives in those conditions so he was certainly looking forward to the gate drops on Saturday night. He first got things rolling in the lone quali- fying practice of the day where he managed to secure the second fastest lap time narrowly missing out on the pole position held by Justin Hill. The night of racing kicked off with a thrilling heat race between Plessinger and Jimmy Decotis. Plessinger started just behind the Geico Honda rider and quickly set up a pass. However, Decotis retaliated and passed him right back and continued to lead for a few more laps. Plessinger closed back up and made another pass and they jockeyed for position until finally Plessinger was able to make it stick. He would then cruise on for the hard-fought win and a straight transfer to the main event.
When the gate dropped for the main, Plessinger found himself starting just outside the top five. Believe it or not that was one of his better starts of the year so he set out to capitalize. He was clearly the fastest rider on the track slicing through the field like a hot knife through butter. He was simply on another level busting out a huge triple-triple-triple sequence that no one else
on the track dared to duplicate. He hopped, skipped, and jumped his way into the lead by lap four even easily passing championship leader Justin Hill. Once in the lead he did not look back and went on for an easy, convincing win. He was ecstatic on the podium as he finally got the monkey off his back. Also, it was a tender moment as he dedicated the win to the entire Gragg family. It was nice to see him win one in their honor and he also managed to snip Hill’s points lead down to eighteen. We’ll see if he can continue chipping away two weeks from now in Salt Lake City.
32 GRITMOTO • APRIL 9, 2017