Page 99 - GM12

theGRIT
Cole Martinez entered Santa Clara ready to improve on his season and try and grab another top
ten finish. He was one of the few riders that excelled on the tough, tight track during qualifying
practice in Nor Cal where he would go on to slap down the eleventh quickest time. It was a great
effort and he was ready to carry that effort into the night show.
Martinez got a bad start in the heat race and could not recover. Due to the quick six laps of the 250 heat races and the faster than usual track, it left him little time to comeback and it hurt him. He actually made a move on lap three to take ninth place, the final transfer spot, but Kyle Cunningham who suffered an even worse start, made the pass sending Martinez to the LCQ. Not the race he expected to be in after his good qualifying sessions.
The LCQ went better for Martinez as he was able to work around Blake Lilly for fourth early on in the race and just cruise through to the main event. He kept his Yamaha smooth and steady en route to the third place finish and officially made it to the main.
The night of bad starts continued for Martinez in the main event where he would come around lap one in a dismal nineteenth place. The track was not favorable for passing and he was about to find that out the hard way. He did manage to pick of a handful of riders prior to the halfway point to move into fifteenth but that would be as far up as he got. Martinez would run into problems in latter half of the race resulting in him finishing in a disappointing 21st. Definitely not the return to racing he wanted so he will be aiming to redeem himself at the final round in Las Vegas.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
99