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Heading to the starting gate for moto one, Alex was calm. He put together a 3rd place time in qualifying, was hydrated and ready for battle; life was good. He looked on as the board turned sideways, focused down on the crusted dirt attached atop the metal starting gate and said go, bursting out across the multilayered Colorado surface in 4th, losing a spot to 5th in the first lap shuffle that never disappoints. With all bikes being held wide open, the top five settled into a groove with Martin ready to make moves, He got around Jordan Smith early on and was looking to only go forward when disaster struck in the form of teammate Aaron Plessinger in a deep-rut right hander. Hitting the ground hard but remounting on his own, Martin didn’t gather himself until he
had let over twenty riders by. Did anyone say that this was just the halfway mark? As the clock winded down, A-Mart put down the hammer like the Star Racing boys are known for and began picking off guys left and right. From 28th at his worst, Martin was into 16th by with ten minutes left and didn’t stop. Alex was blowing by Hampshire, Harrison and Plessinger, who he tangled
with, using any line necessary until he reached 8th on the final lap where he would finish. As shown in moto one, red plates and
point leads may not be the best recipe for results but it clearly controls the flavor of the performance as moto two was quite possibly Martin’s best... ever. The #26 Yamaha found his way off to a solid start in 7th as the top five saw some fresh faces early on. In the next ten minutes he would pick off four spots in getting by his brother, McElrath, who battled in the early laps, and a crash with Adam Cianciarulo going down hard. AC ended up okay but was slow to remount, ultimately pulling out of the moto. For A-Mart though, the heat was still on. At this point he found himself in 3rd trailing Savatgy and Davalos but was in no way far behind. Martin appeared to be riding with with an extra gear as he used every inch of the track to get around lappers, scrubbing underneath on the setup doubles and railing ruts without a hiccup. Absolutely blazing, Martin eventually found Davalos, skated by and left him behind to seal up 2nd place, a masterful performance through some of the class’s best riders, and another podium overall with a 3rd. Now having three in a row, the podium streak looks to live again when the series heads east to High Point in two weeks.
words/BRENTECKERT WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
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