Page 63 - MPG_JANUARY

KILPATRICK
NICHOLAS ROMANO
/ MOTOCROSS
Let’s rewind many decades ago, to the 1930’s.
Our location and train of thought? New York City, and it’s surrounding boroughs. There’s a man who goes by the name of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, a boss who’s considered the organizer or “father”, of all organized crime during this era. He, is said to
be responsible for splitting the town into a variety
of gangs, and causing the ruckus that led to the demise of NYC during this time. The heavy hitters
of this generation, included the Bonanno, Colombo, and Gambino familes, among countless others. But one of the slickest, most sly names of this epoch
you ask? None other than the Romano’s, a tough, hardworking group of people, willing to fight crime, trying to take hold of their city one day at a time. Now, fast forward to 2017, where Nicholas Romano has translated his family’s attitude and outlook, towards the sport of motocross. Where he’s willing to outhustle anyone else in his class, and truly put his best effort forward. And, if the time comes when he has to, rough up his competitors a bit, although that’s not his first choice of passing options. For heat one however, Romano would have to watch from the gate, as Noah Smerdon hounded Matti Jorgensen for the lead, pushing to the final lap. All the Pom- pano Beach, Florida native was strong in his efforts, the Cairo, GA transplant of Smerdon was just a hair faster, wanting it more on the last lap, as a pass was made. Haiden Deegan, working his way up from the fifth place spot on lap one, would translate his efforts into third by the checkered flag, as they all watched Romano load the starting gate for division number two. Storming out of the line on his number 411 Kawasaki, Romano resembled Al Capone, bullying the field around with his eye-catching times out front. A 2:12 on the last lap to be exact, was enough to propel, and sustain the lead over Culloden, Geor- gia’s Casey Cochran. The two, having many battles before, would look forward to the main event, where all heavy players would take a seat at the table. Romano volleyed to a third place start, to begin the main event festivities. It was Krystian Janik with
an early lead, but would be surpassed by Romano before the end of the lap. Sweeping both Janik, and Jorgensen who sat second, on lap number two, Ro- mano was simply on rails for this one. It was though he was locked in, and entrenched into the earth’s surface, as his body could truly flow with the chas- sis of the number 411. Setting the fastest time on
lap four, he would go on to pull a very credible five second lead by moto’s end. It would be a dominating performance, as both Janik and Jorgensen would follow. His 1-1, placing the largest of stamps on the class, signifying his classification of “The Don.”
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