Page 16 - Issue_56

COLE SEELY
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> Cole Seely’s 2017 450 outdoor campaign has gone fairly well so far. The California prod- uct has been putting in the work, week in and week out, down in Florida throughout the sum- mer and it has paid off. While working through a hip injury for a good portion of the first half of the season, he has only finished outside of the top ten once and that was due to a crash in Tennessee that forced him out for the day. Other than that race, he has been flirting with the top five nearly every weekend with three sixths, one seventh and two eighths. With his hip injury beginning to look like a thing of the past, he wants to finally put it all together and crack that top five before the season wraps up.
Seely, known more for his Supercross specialties, was one rider that we expected to succeed more than usual on the slick, hard packed Washougal course. He looked solid in qualifying practice going out and putting down the seventh fastest lap time. He was ready to go for the motos.
Seely jumpstarted his day by firing out of the gate in moto one. He rounded lap one in fourth place and looked more aggressive than usual. He stayed attached to the top three for the first few laps until an opportunity presented itself. Davalos had just slipped back to third and Seely saw his opportunity. He pounced on the Rockstar Husqvarna rider and made a strong move
to slip past and up to third on lap four. He looked very racey and tried to make a run at the top two of Tomac and Musquin but they were already too far gone. He settled into his spot and rode a smooth race to the finish to take his first moto podium of the year. A nice little milestone he looked to repeat in moto two.
Seely nailed another good start in the second moto coming out of lap one in sixth place. He battled with Tomac early but eventually lost touch with him a few laps in. He stayed poised and worked around Justin Bogle on lap four for fifth and settled in behind Blake Baggett. The two riders were nearly the same speed and Seely just could not make up ground on the KTM rider. This trend continued for the rest of the moto but he was able to pull away from the rest of the field. He’d end up finishing there in fifth going 3-5 on the day for fourth overall. He just missed the podium but he must be happy to have finally finished in the top five. Look for Seely to take this chunk of momentum into the final three rounds of the series after the one week break.
16 GRITMOTO • JULY 31, 2017