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DANIEL HERRLEIN
ARENACROSS
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> The Ohio native of Daniel Herrlein was clearly feeling comfort- able in his home state and he did his Buckeye brethren proud
as he put himself in 3rd place in timed practice with a 20.62. The Woodstock KTM rider put his speed on display yet again in his heat race as he got out to a top 5 start just behind the Yamaha of Matt Goerke. He put a move on Goerke on the opening lap and was able to secure 3rd position, holding onto it for the remainder of the moto, providing himself with a solid gate pick for the main event. Herrlein lined up next to Chris Blose for the head-to-head showdown that had fans on their feet. He let the Yamaha get out to an early advantage and that was all she wrote as he couldn’t help but settle for 2nd place and look forward to the main events. The crowd was backing the Ohio native as the gate dropped on the first main event, but the roar of the audience was only able to propel him to a 7th place start. He wasn’t able to make an impres- sion on Gared Steinke in front of him and was forced to settle until the checkered flag was flown. Herrlein timed the gate much better in the second main and put all of his Woodstock KTM power down into the Cinci soil, propelling him to 3rd place as the field crossed the stripe for the first time. He made a mistake on the third lap that cost him tremendously and dropped him back to 6th place. The field was so closely matched and the racing so tightly contested that once he gave up that ground, he wasn’t able to make any of
it back in such a short amount of time, although Herrlein turned respectable laps that should brew some confidence rolling into Grand Rapids.
54 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 9, 2017