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Jayce Pennington’s came into the Monster Cup with a point to prove after suffering an injury at Loretta’s that didn’t allow him to show the blinding speed that he’s capable of producing. He put in consistent practice times and adapted quickly to the track as racing got underway. Pennington didn’t get the best jump off of the gate which was the deciding factor for the rest of the first moto; he was held up by a huge pile up in the first rhythm
section that split up the field dramatically. He was well outside the top ten coming into the first corner and he ended up crossing the line in 13th position on the first lap. He then worked his way past Cameron Cannon and Dustin Winter, respectively, on the laps that followed. The Kawasaki rider found himself in 11th position behind EBR’s Ramyller Alves for the remainder of the moto, the two of them playing a game of yo-yo all the way to the checkered flag. Pennington absolutely nailed the start from the inside in the second moto, coming out just behind the eventual winner, Cameron McAdoo. Pennington withstood immense amounts of pressure from riders such as Justin Cooper, Sean Cantrell, and Dylan Walsh throughout the entirety of the race. The motocross suspension that he was running left
no room for error, but it allowed him to push a little bit harder in some of the corners where the other riders couldn’t, therefore giving him an advantage to work with against his competition. Pennington had a tight grasp on 2nd place throughout the entirety of the moto, riding with consistency that would make Ryan Dungey proud and cranking out solid laps one after another. The Illinois native was put to the test on one of the biggest amateur stages and he passed with flying colors, proving that his risk to ride on a vastly different suspension set-up than most of his competitors paid off and he still has the speed to run with the best in the country.
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