Page 76 - Issue45

TYLER BOWERS
250 SX / 10TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / WILSON
>> Multi time Arenacross Champion Tyler Bowers was given a chance to ride for one of the elite lites teams in the supercross season a few years back as a fill in rider. Bowers put on a great performance with pro circuit as his time as a fill in rider and was given a chance to race with the team full time the next few years. In his first year under the awning of the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team Bowers was a title threat and had one of the most heated rivalries seen
in the 250 division seen in years with Cooper Webb. Since then Bowers seems like he has lost the pace. Tyler was left searching for a ride for the 2017 season, thankfully the 51Fifty Energy Drink Yamaha team decided to pick him up for
the year. At the first gate drop of the year in January (Anaheim 1) Tyler looked
to struggle with set up and came away with 11th place. The following weekend wasn’t much better as the #52 finished 11th once again. Round 3 was much bet- ter for @tylerbowers as he was able to battle closer to the top 5 and came away with his first top 10 of the season. Sadly that was the last time we have seen the Yamaha rider as he sustained a broken femur. It was the third time Bowers has broken that same femur, originally he didn’t think it was broken but after evalu- ation he was struck with the bad news and it looked as if his season was over. Luckily for Bowers he was able to return to the series with two rounds remaining, although his preparation was little compared to the rest of the field he was ready for battle. Bowers looked strong in his heat race going from 8th to 3rd in just two corners. Shortly after Tyler took over second with a pass through the whoops
on early leader Castello. Tyler was eventually passed by Forkner and Olden- burg who have been podium threats all season long. The main event effort that Bowers put in was respectable as he came away with his second top 10 of the year and even made a few passes to get there. I say it is respectable because after missing most of the season a top 10 is all you can ask for but given Tyler is a multi time Arenacross Champion and was once a title threat in this 250 class you know he was looking for more and wants to make it clear that he deserves another chance in 2018.
76 GRITMOTO • APRIL 23, 2017