Page 42 - Issue50

DYLAN FERRANDIS
250 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MPG
>> Dylan Ferrandis’ tenure here in the United States has been colored with flashes of brilliance. Those flashes are beginning to become more common the longer he has been here. He ended the Supercross season strong with some solid finishes but unfortunately we weren’t able to see how he’d fare outdoors because he knocked himself out for the day in a crash at Hangtown early in moto one. We’d have to wait for Glen Helen to see how he’d match up and he looked good right from the get go. He looked smooth and fast especially through the deep sand section there. Despite those good signs in practice, it still came as a shock to everyone when he demolished the field in the second moto by nearly twenty-five seconds earning his first career moto win in the States. No one saw
it coming especially after a ninth in the opening moto. He certainly had the momentum headed into Thunder Valley and many were eager to see if he could back it up.
Ferrandis got off to a bit of a slow start in qualifying practice only notching the tenth fast- est lap time. Nonetheless he was ready for the gate to drop and show the United States fans that moto win at Glen Helen was no fluke. He was so ready for the gate to drop that he jumped the gun to early and ran into the gate. He got stuck and had to watch the rest of the field charge up the long uphill start straight. He was able to get unstuck in just a matter of seconds but the damage was done. He rode the moto with a fiery passion to make up for such a mistake. He passed half of the field, a whole twenty riders, on the opening lap. He would continue moving forward for the rest of the race until the check- ered flag waved and he was ninth place. 40th to 9th was quite the ride but he wanted to redeem himself and get a much cleaner start in the second moto.
This time he did not hit the gate. Ferrandis motored out to a fourth place start but he did not stay there long. He passed Harrison and the downed Plessinger to hop into second and appeared to preparing to make a run at race leader Joey Savatgy. He got close but then started to fall back a bit. Jeremy Martin would pass for third about halfway and then he would bobble and fall back to sixth just a few laps later. He dug in there and tried retaliating but the first moto charge must have drained him because he was not able to fight back. He’d finish with 9-6 scores on the day which comes as a bummer after a stel- lar performance last weekend at Glen Helen. Ferrandis is still new to the scene so don’t expect these kind of finishes to become the norm. He still has that race-winning ability.
42 GRITMOTO • JUNE 4, 2017