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51cc 7-8 Limited
THE MOTOPLAYGROUND RACE
at Ponca City
DARREN PINE >> 3
Darren Pine is a young man whose attitude is that of “full steam ahead.” No matter what seems to get in his way, whether it be a yellow flag, bike malfunction, or fall of his own, he always remounts and charges hard
to the front, until his team has to pull him off the motorcycle. And it was the same, as the outstandingly awesome MotoPlayground Event at Ponca City raceway this past weekend. Fourth place off the start, his throttle was fully twisted by the time the tread hit the dirt, hopping off the pad behind the gate. He would quickly move into second, running an outstanding two minute, twenty second laptime in the early going. He seemed to be mak- ing up a substantial amount of time, until a mistake on lap three had him running a whopping eight seconds off his fastest time. But like previously stated, he would push all negative thoughts to the wayside, and continue to charge forward, pushing the bike to its fullest extent. Running another two minute, twenty second circuit on the last lap, he would actually match the leader in the race’s finale. It gave him a boost of confidence like no other, and he headed to the line for moto number two raring to go, eagerly waiting for the switch to be flipped. He was in the runner-up portion to begin the moto, in a heated battle with both Blecha and Thurman, who was mov- ing up quick. The trio almost created a perfect storm, only two seconds of total gap between the three. With the race coming down to the wire, they surged by the mechanics area, nearly three wide and not scared of com-
ing together. Third place on the white flag, is where the young man would stay, crossing the checkered flag in the same spot. Such as solid ride in a stacked class, would put him at third
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