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Blake Baggett looked fairly comfortable on his new KTM in practice, setting the 8th fastest time of the second session with a 1:06.32. He got off to a flying start on his brand new Rocky Mountain ATV/MC- WPS-KTM backed machine, pulling a holeshot in his first ever start on the bike. He hugged the inside of the first corner and crossed the stripe first, but the lead was short -lived as Ken Roczen forced his Honda
up the inside in the next corner. Baggett lost a position to Tomac on the next lap in the first rhythm section as the Kawasaki rider took a faster line and went around the outside. Baggett rode well the next couple of laps to keep Ryan Dungey at bay, but it
only lasted until half race distance until he was knocked off the podium. The Californian then lost another position to Musquin shortly thereafter, but he was able to hold on for a solid top 5 finish in his first outing on the KTM. In the second race, Baggett started just outside the top ten behind TLD KTM’s Shane McElrath. The two of them worked their way past Baggett’s teammate, Benny Bloss, early on in the moto and they began to close in on Nick Schmidt. One lap later, they had disposed of the Milestone Assassin. Baggett had a battle with McElrath in which he got ahead of his fellow KTM rider, putting him in 8th position. He was able to take advantage of Roczen’s crash at the front of the pack and finish off the second moto with a 7th place. Baggett started just inside the top ten in
the final race of the evening, just ahead of Eli Tomac. He lost a position to Tomac and McElrath on the first lap, but he was able to get one back right away as he passed Cody Gilmore for 10th position. He got comfortable in 10th position until just past the midway point of the race when he put a move on Shane McElrath, promoting himself to 9th place. Baggett ended up crossing the line in 9th place and he brought home a 6th place overall, which is an impressive showing on the new bike in a field that was stacked with lots of fast supercross riders.
words/LAKEKILPATRICK
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