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COLE SEELY
450 SX / 5TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Cole Seely has been riding aggressive and fast all year. I don’t think he has ever rode better but he somehow just cannot piece things together in the main events. The Newbury Park, California na- tive has had great heat race and practice performances and even won the rst of three main events at the Monster Energy Triple Crown race at Anaheim 2. However, when it matters the most, he has failed to deliver. He has led several laps this year and a few weeks ago at Oakland, he seemed to be riding away with the victory but midway through the race he bobbled and crashed. Things like that have epitomized his season and heading into Arlington, we are still waiting for that signature perfor- mance from him.
Seely has been at the top of the charts in qualifying practice seemingly all year but he slipped back just a little bit this week. He ended up with the eighth fastest lap time and didn’t seem as in tune with the track like he usual is. He would look to correct that and gear up to race hard in the night show.
Seely’s night did not start off how he’d like it to. He did not get the best of starts in his heat race and came out of the rst lap craziness in eighth place. He did not plan on being back there very long and he proved it right away. In two laps, he managed to get by three riders and into fth place. He remained there for a few laps while he tried running down Malcolm Stewart and Vince Friese. He’d be able to pick off Stewart midway through and then also get Friese on the following lap to take over third position. He made a charge for Tyler Bowers, who was in second, but simply ran out of time. He’d take that third-place nish right on through to the main event.
Seely got another average start in the main, this time coming around lap one in seventh place. He was able to pass Cooper Webb on lap two which was huge because Webb had been fast all day and he would de nitely want to keep him behind. Seely then started running down Weston Peick and while he was doing so, he’d pick up a spot, thanks to Jason Anderson’s crash. Seely would make the pass on Peick on lap ve to get into fourth, setting himself up nicely for the remainder of the race. He had Baggett a handful of seconds out in front of him so between that and Webb breathing down his neck, he was forced to log quick, consistent laps. He was succeeding at doing so but late in the race, after remounting, Anderson just had a quicker pace and he would hammer by in the whoop section. This sent Seely back to fth where he would continue ghting Webb off all the way to the end. The fth-place nish for Seely was solid but not great. He still has to be itching to nd the top spot of the podium and maybe that will be done next weekend in Tampa.
20 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 18, 2018