Page 96 - MPG22

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Cole Seely has been looking quick and aggressive so far this season and wanted to keep things that way at Muddy Creek. He nailed the sixth fastest lap time in practice and was primed to compete on the rough and
slick Tennessee course. Seely got moto number one going by rocketing out of the gate and taking the early lead. He tried to runaway but poor line choices in the first few sections sent him all the way back to fourth. Realizing the urgency of the situation, Seely immediately retaliated and somehow got back by everyone to lead the field around at the green flag. He knew Roczen and Tomac were his main competitors and both got subpar starts so he tried to distance himself from the rest of the pack as fast as possible. His plan worked and he had built up an eight second lead before Roczen moved into second. However Roczen started chipping time off the gap and next thing you know he was on Seely’s rear wheel with Tomac all over the both of them. The trio of riders engaged in an all out war for two laps with all of them trading positions before Roczen and Tomac finally made their passes stick on Seely with ten minutes left in the race. Seely would hold on to finish a solid third place in the moto. Moto two got started with another fine start from Seely. He started up in third place but would surrender the spot to Roczen in the opening moments. He tried locking in behind him but Tomac would also work by a few laps later sending him to fifth. Ten minutes into the race Seely would hop back up into fourth after working around Justin Brayton. Seely just didn’t seem to have that same fire that he had in the first moto and lost more ground than he gained. Musquin would get by later in the race and then Barcia would make the pass on him on the final lap sending Seely back to sixth place. The energy he expired while trying to win the first moto seemed to hold him back a bit in the second moto but he still came away with 3-6 moto scores. His speed is there but his endurance is the last thing that is holding him back.
96 GRITMOTO • JUNE.27.16
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