Page 104 - Issue-35

CHASE MARQUIER
250 SX / OKLAND
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Chase Marquier has emerged as a consistent main event quali-
fier in the 250 West Coast series. The young second year rider from the heartland of the country in Oklahoma, has made all but one main event so far this year and has performed quite well in them. He is a full-on privateer which makes his performances even more impressive. He and his Honda seem to be clicking and he wanted to keep it going this weekend in Oakland. Marquier qualified back in twenty-fifth and seemed to struggle on the tough and nasty course. He tried to put the poor practice effort behind him in the heat race. The race initially got off to a good start for him in seventh place but he would go down and throw away his transfer spot halfway through the quick six-minute rac- ing meaning he had to go through the LCQ to get to the main.
Marquier managed to pull a nice holeshot in the LCQ and position himself inside the transfer positions. He held onto that fourth and final spot until the final lap when he picked up an extra spot as Lionnet crashed his transfer spot away in heartbreaking fashion. Nonetheless it was onto the main event yet again for Marquier.
The main event started off almost as bad as it possibly could for the second-year racer. He got caught up in the first turn carnage and rounded the opening lap in second to last place. With almost nowhere to go but up, Marquier slowly maneuvered the beat-up course on his way forward. Hitting each rut with precision and each bump with ease, he climbed up to fourteenth for the finish. It marks his third top fifteen of the year after only making three main events in his entire career in general just a year ago.
104 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 5, 2017