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AARON PLESSINGER
250 MX / 1ST
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Fresh off winning his rst professional title in the 250SX West Coast Championship, Aaron Pless- inger had a somewhat quiet day at our season opener in Hangtown just one week ago. Plessinger brought home a third overall with 3-4 moto nishes but uncharacteristically struggled in moto two. He was up front early but just did not have the pace and trickled back to fourth. Oddly enough, we have seen that from him on occasion before because he seems to excel coming from behind rather than jumping out to the early lead. He put his nose back to the grindstone this past week gearing up for Glen Helen determined to master his early race sprint speed to better be able to handle the opening laps and settling into the fast pace.
The track at Glen Helen was abnormally wet and soft in the morning qualifying practice sessions. There had been a little rain and that led people to believe that Plessinger, a well-renowned mud rider, would have a eld day but he actually struggled quite a bit. He only set the ninth fastest lap time and was four seconds off the top time set by his rookie teammate Justin Cooper. He would have to go back and make the necessary adjustments if he wanted to excel during the day of racing.
Plessinger kicked off the rst moto of the day by nailing a great start. He entered the rst turn in third just behind reigning champ, Zach Osborne, and privateer rookie, Gage Schehr. He saw Osborne
and knew he had to get in front of him quick if he wanted a chance at the win and he did just that. He dove into the second turn and powered by him going up the rst hill. Then he set his sights on Schehr. Plessinger shadowed him for a majority of the rst lap before riding past him shortly before the lap concluded. He would take the green ag rst and attempt to run away from the rest of the eld. He would do just that. Plessinger slowly walked away from his competitors en route to a dominating rst moto victory leading all fourteen laps. He surely looked to have gured out the demanding course and was ready to do it again in moto two.
Plessinger got off to another nice start in the second moto but this time he’d come around the rst
lap in fth rather than rst. That didn’t seem to matter however because he instantly started surging towards the front. He blew by Joey Savatgy on lap two and then manage to pass both Austin Forkner and two-time champion, Jeremy Martin, on lap three to take over second. Plessinger just seemed
to have another gear compared to the rest of the eld and he now set his eyes on race leader, Alex Martin. Martin was able to build up a gap of around four seconds in the opening laps but that proved to be useless against Plessinger. Plessinger gobbled that right up and was on his rear wheel nearly instantly. He would go right around Martin at the base of Mt. St. Helens on lap ve and quite literally ride off into the sunset. Plessinger ran the remainder of the race uncontested and completed his day in the California desert with a 1-1, rst overall performance. Not only did he win the day of racing, he also tied Zach Osborne for rst in points, so we will see both riders representing the red number plate next weekend in Colorado.
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GRITMOTO • MAY 27, 2018