Page 88 - Issue43

DAKOTA ALIX
250 SX / 13TH
IMAGE / LANGSTON WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Dakota Alix has done well in creating a name for himself during his young career. The MTF product has become one of the best starters in the sport. Each week you are almost guaranteed to witness a holeshot from the Vermont native. This has helped him gain some recognition for himself and his Rocky Mountain ATV/MC team. His speed is also something to be talked about but
it is his inconsistency that overshadows the speed. The story of Alix’s career so far is great starts and crashes. Those crashes have kept him from securing deep top ten finishes so he entered St. Louis this weekend trying to keep it on two wheels because you know he’ll be putting himself in a favorable position at the beginning of the races.
Alix looked solid per usual in qualifying practice putting forth the thirteenth quickest lap time. That’s right around where he typically is in qualifying so he was comfortable and ready to dice it up come race time. He did not get the holeshot we are used to seeing from him in his heat race as he rounded lap one in sixth place. He passed Coates in the early stages and started ham- mering out laps in fifth. He looked to have the spot secure but Cunningham squeaked by in the final laps to send him back to sixth. Alix would hold onto sixth to the checkered flag and prepare himself for the main event.
When the gate dropped in the main, he matched his start from the heat com- ing out of lap one in sixth place. However, this time around he started to move backwards. He got gobbled up in during the first handful of laps falling back
to eleventh. The damage did not stop there as he dropped as far back as fourteenth. He finally stopped the bleeding there and managed to pick up one of those spots back before it was all said and done to finish in thirteenth. Not the result he would have liked as Alix is still struggling to find his groove in the main events.
88 GRITMOTO • APRIL 2, 2017