Page 16 - ISSUE_58

BLAKE BAGGETT
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> After suffering a thumb injury at Red Bud midway through the season, Blake Baggett has been giving it everything he has to stay in the thick of the championship hunt. He has finished inside the top five overall at every round since then but the injury has clearly hindered him as he does not have that same dominating race speed he had near the beginning of the series. To his advantage, Eli Tomac has been having his own struggles recently and Baggett has been able to capitalize. The lead was back down to twenty-seven points heading into the second to last round at Budds Creek. Baggett struggled a bit in qualifying practice. The track was deep and soft after a night of rain and his thumb seemed to make it hard to keep the bike steady in that kind of dirt. The track would dry up come race time and it would make things easier for him as he would have to dig extra deep to make up more championship points.
Baggett got a solid start to kick off the opening moto. He rounded the first lap in sixth and was in a big battle with Seely, Peick, Musquin and Bisceglia. He managed to hold it steady in sixth for the first few laps after some wild racing but Musquin would make a move stick and push him back to seventh. Almost immediately after, Cooper Webb came into the picture after a Baggett mistake and made a pass pushing Baggett further back into eighth. That seemed to light a fire under him and
he would pass Webb back two laps later and keep the momentum going and pick off Peick the fol- lowing lap to return to sixth. He settled in behind Bisceglia but could not find a way around. Finally, on the last lap Baggett put forth one more charge to get Bisceglia and it worked. He passed him to finish fifth on the moto. Not quite the result he was looking for but he finished ahead of Tomac which is all he wants to do.
Moto two began much better for Baggett as he and Justin Bogle holeshotted and drag raced through the first few sections. Bogle would end up locking down first place at the end of lap one
but Baggett was right on his tail. The two duked it out for the first several laps before Baggett found an opening and make the pass for the lead. He tried running away quickly knowing Eli Tomac was closing on both he and Bogle but to no avail. Tomac got into second and was able to pass Baggett a few laps later. Baggett would settle into second and ride it all the way to the finish. His moto scores would be 5-2 on the day good enough for fourth overall. He ended up losing one point to Tomac when it was all said and done and he will be looking for a miracle next weekend at the finale, down twenty-eight points.
16 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 20, 2017