Page 42 - Issue_72

MITCHELL OLDENBURG
250 SX / 6TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> With the shootout of the 250 series just recently taking place inside Lucas Oil Stadium, in India- napolis, Indiana, it gave many a sigh of fresh air. Although the competition was extremely tough, it provided a chance for these west coast guys to take a break from their monotonous soils, and formats of the latter time zone, and see what some of the hottest stars on the east coast were doing. Mitchell Oldenburg took great advantage of his time away, using all instances of training, and result-based per- formances of the past, to assess, and improve on what really needed to be done, for the remainder of the series. And boy could you tell it in the early going of the practice session. Seemingly spraying hol- low tip bullets at the competition, he had everyone in his sight, ducking, dodging, and weaving, hoping not to get near he and his machine. That fear, would carry into the night show, where he would come off the line guns blazing, and looking to set sail onto the eld. These ruts were absolutely combed
out, into the face of each and every jump. But he showed no signs of hesitation, as he would just stand upon the balls of his feet, bring his sternum over the bar pad, and launch into the stratosphere. He had Dakota Alix who was behind him taking note, as they both were going at a substantial pace. His effort was apparent, so much so, that he would go onto nish fth. The main event was here,
and it was a pure dump of adrenaline off the line, his 250f popping with every stab, and shift of both clutch and transmission. Near Hayden Mellross in the early going, it was just he and the stopwatch, his mechanic writing down his circuit times every lap. Looking forward, towards the halfway point, he knew he had to keep his emotions under control in order to come away with a solid nish. He tried to skim through the whoops, an area where felt strong; yet it would be molded into some sort of wheel tap, hop combination, which honestly would work for him. It was all about feeling, and maintaining the ow on this course, something that the leaders were doing, and he needed to adopt. Hammering the switchbacks with a feverish intent, he would toy with both outside-outside and inside-outside combina- tions. It would work, as he had fallen into sixth place as time would subside. There was no stopping the group out front, but if he could just keep this pace, he would keep Mitchell Harrison behind, and walk away from this sketchy raceway, living to ride another day. He would do so, and as the nal ag of surrender would y, he would come across timing and scoring sixth, looking forward as the series would head into the work week.
42 GRITMOTO • APRIL 8, 2018