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Once the gates dropped, Hampshire was unable to capitalize on his good gate pick, crossing the line in 18th to start lap 2. It was unclear exactly what happened to RJ but it didn’t matter as he
wouldn’t stay dormant long. On lap 3, Hampshire started making moves getting into 17th and then 16th quickly. A lap later and the Honda moved into 11th as the entire class shuffled around quicker than a deck of cards on smoke-stained felt. It was anyone’s race to lose as the circuit in Detroit was vicious. Continuing the force forward as the race went on, RJ slid into 8th by the end of lap 10 and used the remaining 5 laps to lock down 7th, tying his 2nd best finish thus far. The result also helped my theory of Hampshire putting the old saying to rest and last weekend in the rearview mirror.
Looking beyond just the result, though, and the rest of the scattered pack in Detroit, the night allowed Hampshire to move into 7th in points. The 6th place of Bowers lies only 9 points ahead with four more chances at redemption for RJ and his factory Honda.
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