Page 40 - Issue-35

KYLE CHISHOLM
250 SX / OKLAND
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> Kyle Chisholm decided to make the drop back down to the 250 class for the 2017 SX season after many successive years contesting the premier class. He started
the season off with a tenth place finish at Anaheim 1, but hasn’t been able to put his Honda CRF 250 back in the top ten since the opening round. Chisholm has shown consistent top ten speed throughout all of the rounds thus far, but extenuating circum- stances have prevented him from reaching his potential. The Floridian continued to fit into that groove in timed qualifying as he ended up finishing in twelfth position overall as a result of both sessions, putting him right in the mix for his second top ten of the season heading into the night show. Chisholm put forth one of his best heat race ef- forts of the entire season thus far as he used his veteran awareness and race craft on the opening lap to navigate through the early race chaos. The Honda rider found himself in fifth position as the pack came across the timing stripe for the first time,
but he wasn’t satisfied with that position in the slightest. Chisholm put the hammer down immediately and fought his way past the YZ250F machine of Broc Shoemaker, promoting him to a comfortable fourth position right away. The #11 machine was able to hold firm in fourth for the remainder of the race, turning fairly smooth lap times as he kept the blue fender of A.J. Catanzaro in his sights all the way to the checkered flag, earning himself a respectable fourth place finish as well as an incredibly strong gate pick for the main event. He wasn’t able to utilize his prime gate pick to it’s full potential, but Chisholm at least managed to pull a start within the top ten. He found himself in the middle of the pack through the opening rhythm section and was forced to take some reactionary measures to avoid the grounded Austin Forkner in the second corner. Ulti- mately, the traffic jam benefited Chisholm as he emerged from the mayhem with sixth place firmly in his grasp. The Honda rider found himself in a battle with Justin Starling and Phil Nicoletti from the get go, and the trio battled throughout the opening laps. Eventually, Chisholm was able to work his way past Starling, but not until after the JGR Suzuki rider overtook the both of them. Chisholm settled into sixth position momen- tarily, but he quickly came under pressure from the charging Star Racing Yamaha rider of Aaron Plessinger. After falling back to seventh position, Chisholm rode his own race and clocked steady laps all the way until the checkered flag, holding strong for his first top ten finish of the season. The Honda rider will be aiming to put himself in the top ten yet again next weekend heading into the sixth round of racing in Dallas, Texas.
40 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 5, 2017