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JON AMES
250 SX / 11TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / WILSON
>> The rookie came into the series as a privateer with little support aboard a Yamaha. An impressive heat race at the first round caught the eyes of the Barn- ProRacing MX/ Ride Motorsports/ Home Depot team and Jon went from a full privateer to being on a team in just one weekend in his professional career. Ames showed lots of speed each weekend but struggle to put everything together for
a 15 minute + 1 lap main event. At round 5 in Oakland Ames had his best ca-
reer finish with a 16th. The next weekend at round 6 he failed to qualify for the main. Ames was able to keep his composure and returned to round 7 besting his 16th with a 12th. Jon has gotten great starts all year long which has helped his chances on getting a top ten finish before the season is over. Jon started his heat race in 6th place but had problems on the first lap and was pushed outside of a qualifying spot. Ames went back to the pits after the heat to prepare for battle in the Last Chance Qualifier. The BPR Yamaha got a great jump off the gate and Ames narrowly missed getting the holeshot and was in 2nd position behind Stone Edler. The #179 of Ames made the pass for the lead on Edler through the whoops but Edler made the pass back. After making a few exchanges for the lead Jon was able to secure the top spot for much of the LCQ. Just over a a lap remained and Jon was shuffled back to second from a hard charging Justin Starling. Thankfully 2nd was more than enough to secure a spot for the main event. Once again the rookie got off to another great start and was just outside of the top 5 after the first turn of the main event. Ames got moved back to 9th early but stayed inside of the top for most of the race. By the checkered the rookie came away in 11th and had his best finish of his season. With one round remaining can Jon Ames crack the top 10? Anything can happen in Vegas.
80 GRITMOTO • APRIL 23, 2017