Page 46 - Issue_67

LUKE RENZLAND
250 SX / 7TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Luke Renzland is back aboard his Yamaha with Traders Racing for another 250SX East Coast Championship. Renzland has been consistently the “ rst non-factory” guy for the past few seasons now and has been known to mix it up and irt with top ve nishes. The New Jersey product enjoyed a solid 2017 campaign that saw him grab four top ten nishes in the seven races in which he competed. His best nish was a seventh at the penultimate round in East Rutherford and that tied his career best. Renzland has always been solid and he started his season that way a week ago in Arlington where he got things going with a ninth-place nish. A nice nish for him but he wants to be pushing closer to that top ve to show the factory guys that he isn’t afraid to mix it up. Renzland started his day in Tampa with the ninth fastest lap time of the class. It was a good effort in the qualifying practice sessions that would set him up nicely for the night show that remained ahead. Typically a good starter, Renzland suffered an awful one in his heat race as he did not round the rst lap until ten other riders had done so before him. He was sitting way back in eleventh and looking to make moves quickly, so he did not have to worry about being on the bubble of a transfer spot. He moved up two spots on lap two to get him into the top nine. He remained stagnant there for a few laps before nally nd- ing a way around Jacob Williamson on lap ve to slide up to eighth. After that, he stayed steady and began wearing down Jerry Robin for seventh. This time it only took him two laps before he was able to make the pass and move up one more spot. Renzland would ride the last few laps there and nish the heat in seventh position. Not necessarily the start to the night he would have like but nonetheless, he was heading straight through
to the main event. This time around, Renzland returned to his old ways and got a great start. He took the green ag in fth place and dug in tight as a tick. He locked the spot down and settled into a nice groove. He was enjoying a nice, quiet ride for most of the rst nine laps, but he would eventually have his hands full with Jordon Smith and Martin Davalos. Renzland would make a mistake and both riders would pass him on lap ten, sending him back to seventh position. From there, he resumed what he was doing prior and just locked into a nice pace. He would ride the entire second half of the race basi- cally uncontested and nish with a strong seventh place. He tied his career high nish and now has a quality pair of nishes to kick off his 2018 campaign with a ninth and a seventh. Look for him to aim to have a similar performance next weekend in Atlanta.
46 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 25, 2018