Page 66 - Issue-48

MARTIN DAVALOS
450 MX / 14TH
IMAGE / CAVAZOS WORDS / LANNAN DESIGN / WILSON
>> Martin Davalos was a favorite to win the 250 championships in Supercross this season, along with many seasons previous. Unfortunately, things don’t always go the dedsried way in this sport and again he fell just short. He was ready for a change and the Rockstar Husqvarna team finally granted his wish of moving him up to the 450 machine for the Pro Motocross series. Excited was an understatement as Mr. Davalos hopped on the rutty track at Hang- town. As expected, he was very fast and was on the board right away. He ended up qualifying a very impressive 5th quickest and everyone was eager to see how he would do in the races. As the bikes thundered to the first corner in Moto 1, Martin was not exactly in the position he hoped to be in. He was stuck in the middle of the pack and doing everything he could to remain on two wheels. He learned quickly that the 450 roost is a whole different animal but remained strong. As the second lap began, he was counted in 11th and doing his best to learn and gain some much needed experience. He main- tained this position for most of the moto until taking a soil sample on lap 12. Fortunately, he quickly got back up and managed to stay inside the top 15. His first 450 race was proving to be harder than expected but he was making the best of it. He ended up with a solid 15th place. In the second moto, Martin got a similar start and was running around 10th place throughout the first lap. Unfortunately, another mistake would drop him back to 13th on the second lap. After a couple more laps, he lost another spot to his teammate and would do his best to follow. By lap seven, he had made his way back into 13th and was looking a bit more comfortable. He settled into a good pace and cruised to a solid 13th place, which was good enough for 14th overall at Hangtown.
66 GRITMOTO • MAY 21, 2017