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theGRIT
Unfortunately for the #167, the start didn’t happen but the round wasn’t to be overlooked. The
18-year-old had a solid heat race that qualified straight into the main event with his 6th place finish.
About two-seconds off the lead groups pace, Bloss rode in smooth fashion by only gaining positions before the checkers flew; a recipe that seems to be the only one Benny knows how to use, but hey, it works. An hour and half later, Bloss was seen rolling the bike under the lights to the main, concentrating solely on the gate drop into what he hoped would be his best race of the year. Once the gate released, though, the Yamaha found itself buried arms deep in the ingredients, starting in 14th. Over the next few laps, Bloss accelerated up to 13th quickly but ended up fading back to 20th on lap five, being passed by Bowers in the process, who got tangled in the first turn. It’s okay, though, this recipe of Benny’s is designed for that. Next, step two of the instructions require immediate attention to first few layers, which Bloss is a master at. With a couple of riders going down on the slick track, Bloss picked off three racers by lap eight, continually moving forward as the race wore on. There was a lot of movement going on as riders continued to fade back but Bloss held strong, gaining a position in each of the next two laps. Bloss, then caught Bisceglia who was in 14th, and became stagnant. The two riders remained stationary in 14th and 15th but on lap thirteen, both turned up the heat forcing the juices to boil. They latched to each other by picking off the next couple of riders in unison. Then, on the last lap, midway through, Bloss feathered the clutch and picked up the pace by putting the 32 of Bisceglia behind him to finish 11th. A hard fought finish that again shows the strength of Bloss in the later laps. It’s very fair to say that the one-six-seven could have dipped into the top ten had the race gone another couple of go-arounds. All in all, though, it time for the lites class to look out, Benny Bloss has arrived and heads to Massachusetts with even more confidence after another impressive finish.
words/BRENTECKERT
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