Page 98 - Issue-46

AJ CATANZARO
450 SX / 17TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / LANNAN DESIGN / WILSON
>> Aj Catanzaro has been a man on a mission so far in 2017. So far this sea- son, Aj has successfully made the switch (back and forth) from his Blue Buf- falo Yamaha 250 ride for the West coast races to the Kawasaki 450 machine for the East coast races. He has seen success in both classes on different brand bikes and his raw talent continues to shine with every gate drop. He made his way to Met life stadium on Saturday and jumped on his big bore green machine. It seemed as though he never missed a beat as he quali- fied with a strong top 20 time. He was now ready to do battle in the premier class once again. AJ got a great jump off the line when the gate dropped for the Heat and was running in a solid top ten position early on. He was able to keep his composure all the way to the end as he finished a solid 9th place.
In the Semi, he got a much better start and pushed his way up to 5th place but only briefly. He began to find his speed as the laps ticked off and found him self right behind the transfer position. Aj made one final charge in the last section but got a little bit of whiskey throttle as he tried to make the pass on Dakota Tedder. A little bit too much contact was made and they both hit the dirt hard. He would now have one more chance to get his Kawasaki in the Main. Aj launched off the gate in his last chance to qualify, and was doing everything he could to get into transfer position. His efforts would pay off as he secured a transfer position quickly and even made the pass for 3rd just before the checkers waved. Aj was tired of gate drops by the time the Main started and it showed as he cruised around the first corner near the back
of the pack. Aj began to find his speed as the Main got underway and was starting to make some moves. He passed multiple riders by the end and was scored with a very commendable 17th place in New Jersey. This was Catan- zaro’s best 450 finish of the year.
98 GRITMOTO • APRIL 30, 2017