Page 96 - issue-36

AUSTIN POLITELLI
450 SX / TEXAS
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / COPELAND DESIGN / WILSON
>> Yamaha rider, Austin Politelli qualified for his first main event of the year this weekend in Arlington. The Murrieta, California native qualified 22nd and knew he would need to keep improv- ing all day if he wanted to make the next step in qualifying for the big show. It wouldn’t be easy for him as he had a little trouble in his heat race trying to run the pace of the top guys starting and finishing 9th. The semi didn’t go any better for him as he had a bad start and couldn’t move himself into the top 5 or even the top 10. He would have to race the LCQ to have a shot at the main. Things finally came together for the privateer when he rode his way to a 3rd place in the LCQ and earned his way into the main event. Though it was a struggle and it took a few rounds to do so, he had finally put himself on the gate of a 450 main. A rough start to the main had Politelli just in front of Clason on lap 1 in 19th position. By the time they had been on the track for 7 minutes he still hadn’t made much progress moving forward and had found his way up one spot into 18th place. Despite going several laps down and battling the tough condition Politelli was able to hold on to 18th for the rest of the race finishing inside of the top 20 for the first time this season in his first main event of 2017. This is an improvement for him as he continues to build this season.
96 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 12, 2017