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KILPATRICK
mike Alessi entered Indianapolis coming off of his two best finishes of the year. He seemed to have found his groove but despite that, he struggled a little bit on the gnarly course coming out of qualifying with the sixteenth fastest lap time. Alessi is always fast out of the
gates so he knew that a signature holeshot would be all he needed to get his night going.
The heat races came around and Alessi rocketed into the first turn banking the long way around just missing the holeshot. He got the good start but was on the outside going into turn two putting him in a bad spot and he would end up getting passed by Anderson and Dungey quickly. He tried to maintain that fourth and final transfer spot but lost two more spots before the halfway point of the race. From there Alessi settled in and finished in the sixth position and was headed to the semis.
Alessi ripped a huge holeshot in his semi but his little brother, Jeff, nearly snuck through to challenge the lead but Mike was able to hold on. And that early challenge from his brother would be the closest anyone got to him as he would take the race wire to wire and head through to the main event.
Looking to keep his streak of season best finishes alive, Alessi put his #800 out front first grabbing yet another holeshot. Dungey immediately worked by in the first rhythm section and then it was all a blur. Alessi started shuffling backwards faster than he got the holeshot and before you knew it he was already back in seventh place. Around lap three it looked as if he had stabilized his position and looked to just put in solid laps. Around halfway the track was completely deteriorated and riders were scattered all over the place and Mike found himself in ninth place. With riders going back and forth during the latter portion of the race, Alessi would wind up falling to tenth and end up finishing there. It was his second top ten of the year and the second in three races. Those good starts are certainly helping and he will look to continue getting top tens for the remainder of the season.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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