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theGRIT
Jimmy Albertson’s weekend in St. Louis started off twice as good as his weekend in Indianapo-
lis. He qualified 18th overall out of combined 250 practice times as the sole representative of
the Motorcycle Superstore Suzuki team. Albertson used his Supercross experience in his heat race to avoid the first corner carnage that has been so prevalent in a majority of the 250 races this year. He got on the binders early instead of driving it in deep onto the landing of the finish line jump which caught a couple other riders out. He was able to escape from the first corner chaos in about 6th position and hold onto that spot for a couple laps amidst a battle with Coates, Cartwright, and Rodriguez. He made it up to fifth midway through the race and was able to secure that position until the checkered flag. The main event start for Albertson ended up drawing some unfortunate parallels to the forthcoming 450 main event. He had the gate second furthest to the inside and tried to use the same starting technique that had benefited him in the heat race, but Malcolm Stewart clipped a tuff block and caused everyone behind him lots of trouble. Albertson was able to avoid the carnage again, but he was forced to pop the front wheel up over a tuff block to get around the crash which put him at a huge disadvantage from the get go. He ended up dead in the middle of the pack, coming over the timing and scoring strip in 11th place. From that point on, Albertson got caught up in the hectic battles that exist in the middle of the pack during the 250 mains. By lap 6, he had been moved back to 16th place in between Ben- ny Bloss and Cedric Soubeyras. On the final lap of the race, Albertson fell victim to the sand section as so many riders did before him and inadvertently collected Tyler Bowers which allowed Malcolm Stewart to keep the points lead. Jimmy ended up finishing the race in 19th position one lap down. As his injury heals and the Supercross rolls on towards Vegas, look for Jimmy to improve and get back into the top 10 before the racing heads outdoors.
words/LAKEKILPATRICK
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