Page 84 - ISSUE-47

DAN REARDON
250 SX / 13TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Dan Reardon’s return to racing here in the United States ended up being fairly successful. He was one of the older riders competing in the 250 West Coast series. His last full season racing in the U.S. was way back in 2010. Many thought he would get eaten up by the younger more rambunctious riders but Reardon held his own. He adapted to the pace of the racing quickly and had a handful of solid performances throughout the season. He entered Las Vegas with five top tens in the first eight races. He even managed to eek out
a fifth place in Arlington marking his season best. He was close to more top fives other nights but small mistakes and crashes held him back just a bit. He looked forward to ending the season strong in Vegas as his best career finish of fourth came there way back in 2008.
Reardon put together some nice qualifying sessions to come away with the fifteenth fastest lap time. He was eager to try his hand at the night of racing ahead. He started his West heat in fifth but would bounce all over the place. He yo-yo’d all over the place going up as far as fourth but then slipping all the way back to seventh where he would finish. He found himself in fifth until the last lap when two riders slipped through. He would still transfer straight through to the shootout.
Reardon suffered a poor start in the shootout beginning the race back in six- teenth. Because of the start, he never really got going and spent most of the race stationary in fifteenth place. He held down that position nearly the entire race until the last few laps where he passed Bowers and Savatgy to sneak into thirteenth. Not quite the position he would have liked to finish the season in but he has to be happy with how his season ended up going.
84 GRITMOTO • MAY 7, 2017