Page 26 - ISSUE-81

AARON PLESSINGER
250 MX / 7TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Aaron Plessinger entered Muddy Creek fresh off a victory at High Point with his second 1-1 performance of the year. There, he regained the points lead from Jeremy Martin and was more than happy to rep the red plates again. After a dominating 1-1 performance at round two at Glen Helen, the 2018SX West Coast Champion took a step backwards at Thunder Valley only tallying a sixth place overall looking for from his dominant self the weekend before. He lost the points lead but as stated earlier, he went into round four and snatched it back up with another 1-1, silencing the murmurs that Glen Helen was just an anomaly. He entered Muddy Creek ea- ger to extend his points lead and maintain the red plate for another week. Plessinger struggled in the slightest in the morning qualifying practice sessions. The Ohio native walked out of them with the ninth fastest lap time. Not where you usually see him in the practice times but many of the rider ahead of him were only ahead by hundredths of a second. He remained unbothered and geared up to do battle for two motos. Plessinger ripped the rst holeshot of the day by a longshot and it looked like he was going to enjoy a successful moto. Unfortunately, that only lasted for two turns as he would tuck the front end and go down early on lap one. He managed to prevent the bike from stalling and he managed to remount just outside the top ten. He slot- ted into tenth at the end of lap two and all eyes were on him to see if he could string together
a champion-like charge to salvage points. Lap after lap went by and that charge never came. Chase Sexton was just ahead of him but every time Plessinger got close, Sexton retaliated by distancing himself again. The only spot Plessinger would gain in this moto would be thanks to an Alex Martin crash. He’d nish in ninth place. He would look to repeat his stellar holeshot in moto two, but this time keep it on two wheels. Plessinger didn’t grab the holeshot in moto two but he did get out to a nice start. He rounded lap one in fourth just behind Jordon Smith. Pless- inger stayed on his rear fender and at times looked like he was about to make the pass, but he couldn’t seal the deal. However, at the halfway point, his pressure may have nally worked as Smith would tip over and allow Plessinger by. Now in third, he had a clear line of sight at the two-way battle raging for the lead and it looked like he might catch up and capitalize on it, but he would end up going down himself. Luckily, he would only lose one spot to Chase Sexton. Then like in moto one, Plessinger could not nd a way around the youngster. He tried every- thing but in a turn of events, he would end up getting passed and sent back to fth by a hard- charging Shane McElrath with just four laps left. Plessinger would not be able to retaliate and he would nish there in fth. His 9-5 scores were enough for seventh overall but that is clearly not where he would like to be. He’ll hold onto the points lead for another week though because of a vicious crash and DNF for Jeremy Martin in moto two.
26 GRITMOTO • JUNE 24, 2018