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BROC TICKLE
450 SX / 9TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / LANG DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> It has been an up and down season for Red Bull KTM’s Broc Tickle. Starting off
the year with a holeshot and leading laps in his very rst heat race, to shortly after jumping off the track and crashing, we haven’t seen much more from Broc after that incident. Last weekend was a breath of fresh air for the KTM rider and team after Tickle nished his season best 5th in the Main Event. Although his results are not what he or the team were expecting, it is not for lack of trying. Round seven of the Monster Energy Supercross season would be another hard fought battle for Broc as he made a costly mistake in the beginning of the Main Event. The tricky “S” turn start bit Tickle as he
ran into another rider after coming out of the gate inside the top ten. Broc awkwardly “high sided” and had to allow the entire led passed before he could get back on his motorcycle. This left Broc in 22nd place on lap one. Knowing he has 20 minutes to
get as many riders as he can, Tickle put his head down and went to work. He is obvi- ously in tremendous shape as he passed more than half of the riders and found himself inside the top ten. Catching all the way up to Rock Star Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson in 8th and applying the pressure all the way to the checkered ag. Although he put the heat on Wilson, Broc was unable to make the pass and nished a respectable 9th place overall. This ride from Broc was exceptionally impressive because of how rutted and deteriorated the track was. Even before the track broke down, it seemed very hard for riders to make passes without being overly aggressive. We even saw some aggressive passes not work because of how the track funneled into the next corner or section. Add in some deep ruts and one “fast line” its pretty impressive that Tickle was able to get up to 9th place from dead last.
58 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 18, 2018