Page 42 - Issue-48

COLT NICHOLS
250 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / CAVAZOS WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / WILSON
>> Everyone on the tour has their certain traits in which they excel, the times, places, and types of terrain in which they flourish. With the mind being such a powerful tool, it’s crazy to believe how one’s demeanor can be affected, just by what they tell them- selves on raceday. “I hate this track, it’s too narrow, too much water” etc., all variables that one can thrown, into the bag of excuses, prior to them even stepping foot on the track. Colt Nichols looked at this in a positive manner, discussing with both media and friends, about how he felt this was his time, and his campaign of dominance began to- day, on this weekend in May. Practice went well for him, pushing the pace, but talking to his mechanic under the paddock, relaying a signal of clicker adjusting, softening the rebound, as he seemed to be bucked down the hills a bit. With laptimes nearing the 2:15 mark, he was pleased. Overall, they got the kinks worked out, and he was set up for the first moto. They loaded the gate, mechanic standing in front, grabbing the bar pad, and pulling into the ground, launching the holeshot device. He rocketed off the pad, as the ruts were relatively thin, and he clicked into third, glancing to his left, and cutting over. After coming across the line in fifth, the smooth tactician was holding off the likes of Dylan Ferrandis. He would do so accordingly, a strong effort but eventually get taken over by Alex Martin. Trailing a mere four seconds at the end, he was satis- fied, with a fifth place finish. Throwing tearoff’s like crazy, it was though he smacked
a bird, with feathers flying everywhere. He was fighting hard with riders in the top ten, the ruts were now getting chewed out, small divots in the bottom from acceleration. His helmet and arms were vibrating feverishly, but he would hang on, white-knuckled and all finishing fifth. Line em up, and send em away, the field bombarding into turn number one; this is what he loved, and you could tell it with the amount of enthusiasm his aggression was showing. He was showing yet again a prominent pace, hovering inside the top ten, trying to latch on to former champion Jeremy Martin. Launching off the paralleled downhills, the fork guards knocking the yellow markers on the side of the track, he wanted this position so bad, almost too bad to be honest. He was coming into these corners in the bottom, the g forces sinking him in to the combed slots, but the inside foot was dabbing. And once he off balanced here, and there, it was time wasted; adding up, but still fighting. He would work his way up with each go around, eventually climbing to an impressive sixth. He would end up holding down his position in the top portion of the field, coming home in sixth overall.
42 GRITMOTO • MAY 21, 2017