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IMAGE/ANDYCAVAZOS
Earning a dismal 11th at last year’s Glen Helen national and his 15th last weekend, Hampshire wanted nothing more than an improvement for round two. The day didn’t start promising as he qualified 18th before heading into moto one and making his way towards the front. As the 250’s screamed around the completely insane hillside course, Hampshire found his way into 5th from
the start and kept his eyes forward for a majority of the race. It wasn’t until midway through the race that the 6th place of Aaron Plessinger seemed to be in pursuit of Hampshire’s position. After some solid pressure, Plessinger broke through and made his way around Hampshire, pushing RJ to 6th where he would complete the race and once again show some success early on in the afternoon. Following a very popular trend of a bad start at every round, Hampshire came out of the
gate with hesitation finding himself in 23rd across lap one. Staying steady for a few moments before slowly picking up positions in groups. Within the first few laps, RJ made his way up to 18th, then 15th by the halfway mark and then 13th and finally 11th before the race finished. All the advancements proving to be fruits of the grueling Glen Helen track. When the sun set, although still yet to put two completely consistent moto’s together in the same weekend, a 6-11 for Hampshire earned him a 7th overall and a much more solid performance as the tour begins its journey eastward to Colorado next weekend.
words/BRENTECKERT
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