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JESSE WENTLAND
250 SX / 20TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / WILSON
>> After a break out year in 2016, The #62 of Jesse Wentland came into 2017 with high expectations. After a few years racing for the RSR Pri- vateer Honda team Jesse decided that he wanted to search for new op- portunities and was ready to start something new. Even though Wentland had a short stint riding Suzukis in the off season and raced overseas on Suzukis he ended up staying aboard a Honda. The TiLube Honda racing team formed for the 2017 season and offered Wentland and Noren a deal for the year. Jesse has been riding good thus far into the season, but I am positive that he expects more out of himself. In Wentlands heat race he got his Honda machine to a top 5 start but wasn’t able to do much with it. The competition ahead of him where all on factory equipment and seemed to be riding at a higher pace. The positive is that Jesse didn’t drop and positions, the question is what could he do with factory support, could he reach that next level? The main event didn’t start off as well as the heat race, Jesse made a mistake on the opening lap and was near last after the first few corners. While riding in 17th position Wentland had another mishap and dropped to 21st. It took a few laps for Jesse to catch up to the rest of the pack, by the midway point he was only up to 19th. The #62 almost made it to the top 15 before making another mistake
late in the race dropping him back to 20th which is his worst finish of the season. The TiLube Honda Racing rider will be looking to rebound fast if he wants to receive support for next season.
126 GRITMOTO • MARCH 19, 2017