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JOHN SHORT
450 MX / 14TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / KUHLHOFF DESIGN / TILLS
>> After a respectable fifteenth place overall at Southwick, I’m sure John Short arrived at round eight in Minnesota looking to capitalize and finish within the prestigious top ten 450 class finishers. The TPJ Racing/ Short Racing/ Mc- Whorter Brother’s backed racing machine lined up for the first moto at Spring Creek ready to give it all he had on this physically and mentally challenging track. The gates fell and the battle was on. Finding himself in the twenty-first place spot coming out of the first corner, this Texas native was going to have some work to do if wanted a shot at results the same as, or better than, what he had at the last round. By the halfway point of the race, Short made his way into eighteenth. The number 88 Yamaha machine was not done yet as he captured one more position before the checkered flag and finished the first Millville moto in the seventeenth place spot. With a decent moto under his belt, John Short needed a better start in the, much rougher, second moto if he wanted the overall result that he deserved. The thirty-second card rose with the adrenaline of racers and fans alike, and the countdown to gate drop be- gan. The powerful 450 machines roared as they gained momentum down the deep and sandy start. John Short was immediately off to a better start when he found himself in the fourteenth place position early in the moto. Rows of ruts littered the faces of jumps and zigzagged through the deep sandy uphills as the riders dug deeper and deeper with each transforming lap. Fifteen laps later, John Short was able to gain one position and finish the second moto in a hard earned thirteenth place. Short left Minnesota with 17-13 finishes, result- ing in a fourteenth place overall.
64 GRITMOTO • JULY 23, 2017