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Jeremy Martin had a slim chance at the title entering the finale in Las Vegas. The nineteen- point deficit he faced would be hard to overcome but he knew he had to go out and win and let everything else play out. He started his day on fire with the fastest east coast qualifying time and third fastest overall. But the track he rode in practice would be much, much different than
the track he would race after rain would pound the hard packed Vegas dirt. The heat race would be chaos with the mud playing a major factor. Martin got out to a third place start by hugging the inside of the first turn but would quickly get passed by McElrath. He would work back into third after getting around Alix at the green flag. Now a few laps into the race, Martin found himself facing the desert sky, cushioned by the Vegas muck. Luckily he remounted in ninth just inside the final transfer spot. From there he would regain a few spots and put his Star Racing Yamaha into sixth as the race ended. Martin kicked off the east/west shootout final main event of the year by stuffing his front end into a big pile off mud in the first turn. It took him nearly an entire lap to get unstuck and when he finally did, he crashed again just a half lap later. Definitely not the start he or anyone would like to have but instead of giving up, he decided to go have some fun in the mud. He started a lap down but that didn’t stop him from throwing down the fastest lap of the entire race and charge all the way up into fifteenth! The amount of ground he made up will be lost in the championships that were wrapped up but he put forth an epic performance to cap his up and down season.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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