Page 39 - OCTOBER-2017

KILPATRICK
He wasn’t able to match the pace of the Husqvarna rider, but he separated himself from the rest of the field without any question, establishing himself as a surefire contender for the overall in both classes. The second day of racing set off to a picture perfect start for the BTO Sports backed rider, as he eagerly sped off to his first win of the weekend in the Schoolboy 1 class. Johnson rocketed down the start straight to a second place start behind his fellow KTM rider, Kaed Kniffing, and the two of them battled briefly throughout the course of the opening lap. It wasn’t long until he made a pass for the lead and subsequently put the hammer down, separating himself from the rest of the field with the fastest lap of the race in the process. In the last moto of the day, Johnson made a small mistake while pushing for the lead and dropped back to fifth place early in the race. He was able to regroup quickly and remount a charge to third position, but the mistake allowed Biese to take control of the overall heading into the final moto. The final day of racing finally arrived as championship motos got underway -- the Californian’s best shot for a title came in the Schoolboy 1 class, but a poor start dramatically hindered his chances. Johnson found himself wavering back in ninth place on the first lap of the race with a mountain to climb ahead of him; he put his head down and charged forward through the pack, but the four lapper only allowed him to recover to a fourth place finish. He fought with all his might until the very last lap, clocking the fastest time of the moto as he attempted to hunt down the podium finish, but the result was only good enough for second overall. Johnson approached the last 125 B/C moto with focus and urgency as he shot out to a third place start, immediately charging at full bore in order to keep tabs on Biese. Unfortunately, he made a mistake coming through a section of gnarly braking bumps and fell back to last place on the very first lap, setting him up for another come-from-behind ride. He never gave up and fought his way back to eighth place, salvaging a third place overall finish to keep him on the podium in both classes.
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