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KYLE CUNNINGHAM
250 SX / 6TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> At the first two rounds of the 250 East Coast series, Kyle Cunningham failed to qualify for the main and got a twelfth at the following round. It was not a promis- ing start to his season but one phone call turned it around. He got called up by AutoTrader Monster Energy JGR Suzuki to fill-in for the injured Matt Bisceglia. The veteran accepted their offer and the rest is history. He has not finished outside of the top ten since joining the team and even got a top five in Detroit. He has turned this into his best season in the past few years and he looked to end it strong as we returned to racing this weekend in East Rutherford.
Cunningham got off to a hot start in qualifying practice as he went out and set the sixth fastest lap time. It was one of his better qualifying performances of the year so he looked to translate that into one of his better main event performances of the year.
Cunningham did not get the best of starts in his heat race as he rounded lap one in eighth. He was in a transfer position but he was looking to better his gate pick. He reeled off some good laps and worked his way around the technical MetLife stadium course. He ended up climbing up a few positions to finish fifth. He headed back to the pits and prepared for the main.
Cunningham suffered a dreadful start in the main event. He secured the green flag absolutely buried in fifteenth place. He did not waste any time making moves jump- ing up to tenth in just two laps. He held down the position for a couple laps before passing Anthony Rodriguez and Cameron McAdoo to take over eighth around the halfway point. He was using his veteran savvy on the rough and beat-up track to move past these younger riders with ease. He picked up one more spot, passing Luke Renzland for seventh, during the second half of the race. He would finish the race there, but would officially finish in sixth after it was announced Savatgy got docked five positions, capping off an impressive come from behind performance. The seventh tied his second-best finish of the year and he will look to better that next weekend at the finale in Las Vegas.
44 GRITMOTO • APRIL 30, 2017