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COLE SEELY
450 MX / 5TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> The past few weeks have been very kind to Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely. The southern Californian rider is coming a fourth overall at Washougal and a third overall at Unadilla. Both were career bests and being selected to represent Team USA at the Motocross des Nations was the icing on the cake. Seely really seems to be finding his stride outdoors after being labeled a pure supercross rider throughout his career. His results are consistently improving along with his endurance. With two rounds to go, he’ll look to keep the good times rolling to the finish.
Seely looked solid in the morning practice qualifying sessions. He was smooth aboard his Honda 450 and came away with the sixth fastest lap time of the day. He was ready for gate to drop for moto one.
Seely rocketed out of the gate to start the first moto and rounded lap one in third posi- tion. He locked in behind early leaders Martin Davalos and Justin Bogle. He stayed close right with them for the first half of the moto before a bobble forced him to lose some time. Matt Bisceglia and a train of riders caught up to him but he weathered the storm and pulled back away. He was riding a lonely third when Marvin Musquin came charging through in the latter stages of the moto. He could not retaliate and settled into fourth and held it without challenge all the way to the checkers. It was another solid moto for Seely and he’d look to repeat it in moto two and even try and sneak on the podium.
He did not get the same start in moto two rounding the first lap in eighth place. He looked to have that same intensity in the first moto by quickly passing Bisceglia but he fizzled out after that. He stayed stagnant in sixth until the midway point when a battling duo of Musquin and Webb made their way around him. Now back in eighth, Seely stayed steady throughout the second half of the moto and bring it home in eighth. A slightly disappointing second moto but his 4-8 moto scores would earn him another top five overall in fifth. Seely continues to look strong with one round remain- ing.
20 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 20, 2017