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SEAN CANTRELL
250 MX / 14TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / TILLS
>> One’s world couldn’t be more different, than for that of Sean Cantrell,
in comparison to this time last year. Preparing for those ever so daunting twenty-minute moto’s at the ranch, all eyes upon him to run the table, with the looming pro nationals around the corner, it has now all changed in the blink of an eye. Fast forward to June of 2017, he’s battling with the best in the business, televised, and running a pace in which he’s never been forced to before. Doing a fine job so far, he came into Muddy Creek to prove that his previous performances were no joke. A seventh place start was solid, reinforcing the notion of his gate-drop technique, in which he forecasted in the opening rounds. His West Coast style was coming to light, as the track began to become a little more hardpacked. His lines, swooping in, and at times, cutting across ruts, allowed him to keep penetrating the field as the laps rolled on. Rubbing plastic with both RJ Hampshire and Colt Nichols, he showed no signs of backing down, at times clipping the grip of his handlebar onto the controls of his peer. His aggressiveness received applause from both manager and mechanic, bringing a home a remarkable seventh place ride by moto’s end. If he’s done it once, he can do it again; the aforemen- tioned phrase echoed in the ear of the TLD rider on the starting line. He had to have engaged the traction control button immediately off the pad, as he neared the front of the field, registering across the stripe in fourth during lap number one. And then, disaster struck; a near catastrophic crash caused him to be power-driven into mother earth, up and over the bars, coming out of mid-air. He would roll into the grassy knoll’s of Muddy Creek Raceway, laying there until receiving medical attention; he would finish 38th for the moto, and be disappointed that his first moto finish would only result in a 14th place overall.
88 GRITMOTO • JUNE 25, 2017