Page 32 - Issue-35

JIMMY DECOTIS
250 SX / OKLAND
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> New England’s own Jimmy Decotis was looking to inspire the New England Patriots on the eve Super Bowl LI with a fiery performance of his own. ‘The Rippa’ was the lone representative of the Geico Honda team in the night show last weekend at Phoenix and things remained the same for the fifth round of the series in Oakland, due to the absence of Jeremy Martin as the result of a concussion. Decotis has demonstrated the speed to run up front in both qualifying and racing, most notably leading the first half of the main event in San Diego. He has finished inside the top five in every main event excluding the fourth round in Phoenix, putting him in the position to bounce back with another top five finish in Oakland. The Geico Honda rider put himself in a prime spot to do just that as he tamed the qualifying mudfest with calculated control to clock
the fifth fastest time of the day. Decotis gathered his accumulated momentum from qualifying and used it to propel himself to a fantastic start in his heat race, placing him immediately in a battle with Shane McElrath out of the first corner. The Troy Lee Designs KTM rider built himself
a miniscule gap over the first couple laps. Meanwhile, Decotis fell under the pressure of his housemate, Aaron Plessinger. He wasn’t able to hold off the pressure from the Star Racing Yamaha rider, eventually forfeiting the spot as the Ohio native charged toward the front. After
the midway point of the moto, Decotis began to close in on McElrath for second position, most notably in the whoops section. On the sixth lap, he attempted to carve a line around the outside of his fellow east coaster by carrying more momentum through the whoops, but the two of them came together instead. The New Englander was able to muscle his bike from atop the tuff blocks and remount in a timely fashion, salvaging a sixth place finish whilst avoiding a trip to the LCQ. Decotis was another rider that benefited from the first lap carnage in the main event as his start was mid-pack at best exiting the first corner. He managed to find some room around the outside of the second corner and come out unscathed in fourth position. Decotis found himself behind the Troy Lee Designs KTM of Shane McElrath yet again in practically a carbon copy of the heat race. He used the first couple of laps to find a rhythm and pace the rider in front of him, but it wasn’t long until he mounted an attack on the final podium position; in a mirror image of the heat race, Decotis blitzed around the outside of McElrath through the whoops section -- this time mak- ing the pass stick as the two of them avoided a collision. Decotis’ experience in the soft, rutted conditions of the east coast allowed him to navigate through the ruts with outright consistency, keeping McElrath at bay until the seventh lap. From that point forward, the two of them were entrenched in a battle with one another that continued until the very last lap, but Decotis missed out on the podium opportunity due to busy lap traffic. The New England native showed podium speed throughout the entire night of racing, he’ll be looking to minimize his mistakes and land on the box heading into the sixth round of the series in Dallas, Texas next weekend.
32 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 5, 2017