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JORDON SMITH
250 SX / 3RD
IMAGE / REEVES WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Take an in-depth look into the origins of this city, a place where soulful barbecue food and
blues music play a big role in contributing to its identity. The theme even translates into the hockey team, the St. Louis Blues, who are well-known throughout the league. But the idea of “blues”, can be traced back to roots of troubling, hard-times, where a person had to endure the struggle and hardships of tremendous obstacles. And there are athletes in AMA Supercross who can relate, most certainly. Jordon Smith has overcome walls of devastation throughout his career, with crashes, injuries, and bike failures, riddling many of his races, and chances for titles. However, rather than succumbing to the dreadful “blue” epidemic, he’s weathered the storm, and went on to reach spec- tacular heights. He was planning on doing the same thing for this particular round, after catching
the attention of many in practice. Railing the left-hander before the step-over tunnel jump, he would click into fourth gear down the straight away, railing the absolute edge of the right-hander, before
the whoop section. He would then stop into the mechanics area, looking for a click adjustment to
the forks; a few turns with the wrench, and he would be off on his way, preceding his heater of a lap. The change would work, and a satisfactory expression would smirk across his face, while rolling into the concrete laden pit area. The heat race would then begin, and the pure force of twenty of the best professionals ducking into turn one would have the crowd on their feet; he would wash the front end, and have to work his way back to the front. Leapfrogging into the opening rhythm lane, his exquisite combination of multiple triples in practice wouldn’t plan out early on, due to lane constraints and traf- fic. No sweat though, he would blitz through the following section, and situate himself into the fastest part of the field, as always, pushing forward. Neck and neck with Josh Osby, the two would be within striking distance as the race would lead into the later laps, as he would run an inside line through the whoops, and narrow the window of opportunity in the following left. A subsequent double, double combination, he would check to his left over the next triple, and continue to hover inside for the
rest of the moto; and with that idea, he would finish seventh. The iPhone’s were out in full force, looking to capture the brightest of stars go rampant on this raceway. He would situate himself nicely throughout the opening two lanes, doing his best to stay upright. As the field crested the green
flag, he looked to set sail, letting the wind take him into the storm that would ensue. Yellow flag’s
left and right, he would do his best to remain focused, as the lines began to be further entrenched into the bowl turns. The footpegs would begin to scrape, all the while the thought of cross-rutting entering into his brain; he couldn’t dwell, and the brief visualization would be tossed, and he would continue on. Linking up with Kyle Peters, the two would seemingly be connected for a brief period. He would go high, and the stalker would do the same; cut under after the opening rhythm section? You guessed it, the opposition was right there. He would make the move, pushing into third. Finally he would shake the presence of mind-games being played, and attempt to dive for the finish. It was here, and he could finally relax, taking home the third place ride.
34 GRITMOTO • MARCH 18, 2018