Page 64 - MPG-AUGUST

PONCA CITY OKLAHOMA
TAYLOR PAINTER
Fresh off of his first ever Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National title, Taylor Painter was coming into the Vet classes at Ponca as the
rider with a target on his back. He contested the Vet 25+ class as well as the Vet Open class and he was flawless in both, scoring four separate moto victories throughout the weekend. It was an utterly dominant performance for the Texan as he grabbed three holeshots and four fastest lap times on his way to both championships, proving himself to be practically untouchable every time his Kawasaki hit the track. He was able to regularly run a pace that was more than half a second faster than his closest competitors, separating him from the competition rather quickly in the early stages of the race. His starting technique was also a massive sepa- rator as he mastered the concrete starting pad, making things easy on himself with a clear track in three out of four races. In the second Vet 25+ moto, Painter found himself battling for the top three on the opening lap and was forced to do a little bit of passing -- something that he didn’t have to do much of throughout the weekend. He had worked his way up to second position by the end of the opening lap and set the fastest time of the race on the very next trip around the circuit, closing in rapidly on the leader.
The Kawasaki rider made the move for the lead at the halfway point of the race and immediately built an advantage of more than one second over the riders behind him. It was just one of many dominant performances for Painter throughout the weekend that led him to his second title, keeping the ball rolling after his outstanding ride at Loretta Lynn’s.
64 MPG • AUGUST • 2018