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Aaron Plessinger finally got off to a decent start by his standards after he has struggled to put himself in a good
position out of the gate during the last couple of races. He sat in about 6th place on the opening lap, behind the
TLD KTM of Mitchell Oldenburg. Plessinger wasn’t able to pull the trigger on the big triple step-up in the midst of the opening lap mayhem; therefore, allowing a small gap to form between himself and the top five riders. Zach Osborne came flying by Plessinger on the second lap and showed him the way around Mitchell Oldenburg, who began to fall backward through the field. Plessinger attempted to keep pace with Osborne, but it wasn’t necessary as the Husqvarna rider experienced a mechanical which put him out of the race. The Yamaha rider found himself in a Pro Circuit sandwich with Savatgy about six seconds ahead and Forkner closing a four second gap at the rear. Plessinger began to pick up his lap times and find a rhythm, but the pace of Forkner was too much to deal with and the two of them were locked in a battle for the majority of the latter stages of the race. They passed each other back and forth and forced each other into a blistering pace on the final lap, turning their fastest laps of the race. Plessinger clocked a 2:15.1 on the last lap, fending off Forkner by four tenths of a second in order to clinch 5th place and make it four Yamahas in the top five. The sophomore out of Ohio put himself in the same position in the second moto, starting in 6th place and working his way into 5th with relative ease. He seemed to be struggling with the pace early on in the beginning of the race and took a couple of laps to get into his rhythm. After he was overtaken by his teammate, Cooper Webb, Plessinger picked up the pace and turned his fastest lap of the race on lap four. He took 5th position back as he scrubbed by Adam Cianciarulo over the finish line jump and managed to get the power down a little bit sooner than the Pro Circuit rider. Towards the end of the moto, he closed in on the rear fender of Joey Savatgy in an attempt to take points away from his teammate’s championship rival. He struggled to find a line around the Kawasaki and was forced to eat roost for a couple of laps which opened the door for Alex Martin to join the party. Plessinger pushed a little too hard on corner exit into the second set of sand whoops and spun up the rear tire, allowing Alex Martin to take over 5th position. Within one lap, the number 23 Yamaha was back on Savatgy, but a mistake which forced him off the track and into the banners ruined his chances of another top five. Plessinger managed to grab 5th overall on the day which he’ll look to build on heading into Washougal.
words/LAKEKILPATRICK
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