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KYLE CHISHOLM
250 SX / 9TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Kyle Chisholm has seen all this sport has to offer in his several years racing professionally. He’s at the point where he just wants to have fun but still go out and compete. That’s why it’s unusual he hopped back down to the 250 ranks last year, but he still loves to mix it up and the intensity of the younger 250 class certainly offers that dicey racing. He signed a deal with 51FIFTY Energy Drink Yamaha in the offseason to continue his racing in the 250 class. Chisholm signing with the team was a mutually beneficial arrangement because Chisholm got to still compete under the awning of a competitive team and the team got a great, veteran rider and all-around class act in return. Three rounds into the season, Chisholm already has two top tens and an eleventh-place finish, so he is definitely proving he still has plenty of capabilities on a dirt bike. The rider hailing from Florida got to work in qualifying practice and came away with the twelfth fastest lap time. Everything seemed to be in order, his speed was solid right where it always is, and he was ready to battle under the Arizona night sky. To start his heat race, Chisholm motored down the start straightaway and got through the first turn clean. He took the green flag in fourth position and looked to stake his claim up front. He got passed by fellow Florida native Adam Cianciarulo one lap into the race but after that he settled into a good pace. The track was a tough one to master with several different options through rhythm lanes and very slick terrain, but Chisholm found a way to navigate through every- thing consistently and he brought his #11 machine to the main event with a fifth-place finish in his heat race. Chisholm replicated his good start in the main event and picked up right where he left off emerging from lap one in fifth position. However, that early race intensity from this field of young riders is very hard to match and Chisholm would be reminded of that on lap two. He got shuffled
all the way back to eighth place. He regained control on the following lap and settled down in that eighth-place spot. He got gifted a spot, moving up to seventh, several laps into the race after Mitch- ell Oldenburg crashed out but he would run into his own problems the following lap and bobble back to tenth the very next lap. He stayed there for a while but down the stretch he was able to reel in Phil Nicoletti and pass him with a few laps to go. That put him in ninth and that is where he would end up finishing. Although he was up front early, he still managed to tie his season best finish and notch another top ten. He’ll look forward to another solid performance next week in Oakland.
58 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 28, 2018