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MARTIN DAVALOS
250 SX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Martin Davalos has had another up and down season so far here in 2017. During the first big chunk of the 250 West Coast series, he seemed to struggle to find a good rhythm and it resulted with some sporadic results. He only finished outside of the top five once but the downside to that is he only finished on the podium twice with no wins. His speed was on par to win a few of those but mistakes down the stretch really hurt him. He used the long break to shore up a few of his weaknesses and come out strong in Seattle aiming to be more efficient in the main event.
His speed, like usual, was right there with the championship contenders in qualifying practice as he notched the third fastest lap time. He was ready to try his hand at what was going to be one of the toughest tracks of the year. He started the night off great with a holeshot in his heat race. He led the first few laps trying to distance himself from the field but this year’s four-time race winner Justin Hill closed the gap. The two riders battled it out for the better part of a lap when Davalos got sideways, colliding with Hill over a jump sending Martin careening off the track. Luckily, he fell relatively soft on the side of the track and was able to remount with ease. He would only fall back to fifth meaning he still easily transferred onto the main event.
Davalos backed up his holeshot with another one in the main going two for two on the night. He took the early lead and just tried to put in some clean laps. He succeeded
in doing so but Aaron Plessinger was on another level during that race and he went right around Davalos four laps into the race. Things then started to happen quickly
for Davalos as Hill and Decotis found their ways around just a few laps later. Before Davalos could completely settle in again, Oldenburg joined the party and got by him bumping him back to fifth. Davalos stopped the bleeding there and would pick up a spot back on the last lap thanks to a Decotis fall. He would end up finishing in fourth position. Another solid performance from the rider from Ecuador but he is still strug- gling to climb up on that podium.
40 GRITMOTO • APRIL 9, 2017