Kawasaki Team Green
manager Ryan Holliday,
who brought several of
his program's top young
stars out to Ironman to
participate. Among them
were California's Ryder
DiFrancesco, Idaho's
Chance Hymas, Penn-
sylvania's Gavin Towers
and Minnesota's Jayden
Clough, all of whom
wanted to get a feel for
what being a profession-
al rider will be like in their
near future.
In addition, Combine partici-
pants got to watch Sunday's pro
motos from the infield alongside
coaches Bradshaw and Glover.
(Reed would have been there, as
well, but he was helping his kids
race.)
In the first moto, it was Hymas
who led the way, passing DiFran-
cesco after nine of 17 laps in
what turned out to be a nearly
31-minutes long moto. Clough
finished third, with Red Bull
KTM's Daxton Bennick fourth.
The second time out, Hymas
went down on the first lap while
Bennick and DiFrancesco led
from the front. Hymas did his
best to work his way back up
through the pack, reaching
second after going past Ben-
nick, but even with the half-hour
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 35 AUGUST 31, 2021 P41
moto, he ran out of time to try
and catch overall winner DiFran-
cesco, who has been out most
of the summer after breaking his
femur. Bennick held on for third
to take third overall.
"It was great to be back at the
track today! I've really missed
racing over the last few months,
so I loved having everything from
the early morning wake-up call
to the heart-pounding moments
throughout the day," said DiFran-
cesco. "I had a ton of fun today
on the track and I know that rac-
ing on a national-caliber track like
this will help me leading into the
pro ranks."
"I had some really good battles
out there," said Hymas, who
was impressive in both motos,
despite taking second overall.
"I feel good with where I'm at
right now but there are a few
things I'll work on going into next
weekend's Combine to help
secure the top spot. My biggest
takeaway from this weekend is
definitely how strong I felt on the
bike in the second moto, I had
a great flow for the whole 30 min-
utes and that's what I'll be looking
to carry forward."
"Our team, the riders and their
families really enjoyed the entire
experience of the event," said
Ryan Holliday afterwards. "We
all believe in the concept and
feel fortunate that MX Sports has
provided this platform for our
athletes to learn and get a better
understanding of what they will
experience in the next step of
their careers. We look forward
to m ore successful events and
hope to continue the on-track
success as well."
CN
Chance Hymass won the
first moto, but an early
fall ruined his chances
for the overall win, which
went to DiFrancesco.
