Page 32 - MPG19
P. 32

ANDREW SHORT
IMAGE/JACKEDWARDS
32
GRITMOTO • MAY.30.16
Before the start of the 2016 racing season, Andrew Short confirmed that it would be his final year
of professional racing. The BTO Sports KTM rider was hoping to go out in style and put together a
solid season, but things got off to a rough start before he even lined up on the gate at Anaheim. Short suffered a shoulder injury during off-season training which sidelined him for the beginning of the supercross season. He came back to action at the second San Diego round, but he had a rough night after getting caught up in a first turn crash in the main event. It’s hard to adapt to the intensity of professional racing after taking time off, even for a sixteen year veteran such as Short. It didn’t take long for the cruelty of the sport to rear it’s ugly head - two rounds later at Atlanta, Short was involved in a brutal mid-air crash with Phil Nicoletti and Will Hahn; he sustained bruising, burns, and a major concussion. Short and the BTO team made the decision to sit out the rest of his final supercross season and heal up for outdoors. It won’t be easy jumping onto a forty man gate with barely any racing under his belt in 2016, but there aren’t too many riders with more tenacity and experience than Andrew Short. He’s hoping to top off an incredibly illustrious career with a solid outdoor season and put his BTO Sports KTM inside the top ten as many times as possible before the season’s end draws the curtains on his career. Hangtown was a decent return to the professional circuit for the Texan, he scored a 15th in the first moto and a 12th in the second moto to earn 13th place overall. In his first race back, he wasn’t far off of his goal of getting into the top ten. Short’s superior race craft allowed him to make some passes late in the motos and his endurance was on point, logging
incredibly consist
>
ten in no time.
en
>
t times. If Shorty can gradually build speed and intensity throughout the year, he’ll be knocking on the door of the top
>>


































































































   30   31   32   33   34