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Lance Kobusch
Schoolboy 2 (12-16)
IMAGE / TENHAGEN WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> Lance Kobusch has showed some incredible speed since stepping up onto the 250 last fall. The Missouri native has been racking up the moto wins and titles throughout the first couple months of the 2017 racing season, most notably taking the Schoolboy
2 title at the Daytona RCSX. Unfortunately, Kobusch experienced a pretty gnarly crash in the 450 B Class at Daytona International Speedway, but he came back healthy and raring to go for the 2017 JS7 Freestone Spring Championship. It was apparent that he hadn’t lost any of his speed as a result of the incident a couple weeks earlier as Ko- busch only finished one out of six motos off the podium. The young rider out of Missouri lined up in the 250 B class, the 450 B class, and the Schoolboy 2 class and he earned himself a fourth place overall, third place overall, and first place overall, respectively. Kobusch was able to carry his momentum from Daytona into the Schoolboy 2 class as he kept it relatively perfect throughout both motos. The Team Green Kawasaki rider was not at all phased by the depth of the class as he commanded the field from the gate drop onward by taking an early lead. Kobusch took advantage of the clear track ahead of him and was able to ride his own race for the first couple of laps, but he was forced to pick up the pace in the latter stages of the moto after Pierce Brown worked his way into second and began to apply pressure from behind. The two of them rode within one second of each other for the final three laps of the race, but Kobusch held his composure throughout and managed to hold off the charge from the Utah native in order to put himself in the optimal position heading into the second moto. Kobusch took advantage of his gate pick in order to jump out to an early lead in sloppy, treacherous conditions in the final moto. He worked his way past his Team Green teammate, Seth Hammaker, within the first sector of the track and promptly checked out on the competi- tion, improving his times with each passing lap. The track was was greasy and rough
in a lot of different sections, and it called for a calculated riding style to bring home
the victory. Kobusch was able to fend off advances from one of the home state riders, Carter Halpain, as he turned his fastest lap of the moto on the penultimate time around the course. The Missouri native held on for yet another Schoolboy 2 title and padded his trophy collection heading back to the midwest.
78 MPG • APRIL 2017