Cycle News

VOL. 54 ISSUE 20 MAY 23, 2017 P83 14 COLE SEELY (4-12) 8TH 450MX On the injury front, things went from bad to worse for Honda's Cole Seely at Hangtown. Seely missed the bulk of the last few rounds of supercross with a torn muscle in his leg that prevented him from gripping the motorcycle properly with his knees, and although he came to Hangtown much healthier, he went down hard during qualifying and it really made his day difficult. "It was a day of ups and downs, but we'll take it after having a pretty big get-off in qualifying practice in the morning," Seely said. "I felt good in moto one, but it caught up with me in the second moto. We'll regroup and come back strong next weekend." 33 JOSH GRANT (3-3) 3RD 450MX Coming into Hangtown, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Josh Grant hadn't had a podium finish in a moto since 2014, and hadn't earned an overall podium since a year before that at RedBud. Fresh off of his first podium finish of the year at the Vegas Supercross finale, the 30-year-old came into Hangtown hungry and ended up going 3-3 for third overall. "Yeah, I mean, I get my training in during the week changing diapers, filling bottles and all that good stuff, so it's been fun," Grant said. The next race, Glen Helen, is a track where Grant's speed at this point is almost infamous. "I've done a lot of laps at Glen Helen, and it's one of my favorite tracks," Grant said. "We've just got to get a good start, and I feel like with how I've been riding there on Thursdays, it's been pretty good. As long as I keep the momentum going and stay healthy and keep off the ground, I think we'll be good." 15 DEAN WILSON (10-4) 4TH 450MX Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Dean Wilson made it clear at Hangtown that he really has been putting in a lot of work. He fell early in the first moto and charged up to 10th, but in moto two his charge took him up to fourth place, pretty close to Josh Grant's rear wheel. "It's been about four years since I've been here to Hangtown, and I've been honestly working really, really hard," Wilson said. "The first moto, I had a fall and ended up 10th, and I really put a lot of energy out for that one, and the same for this one, so I'm definitely pretty tired, but I'm happy to get fourth. Big ups to everybody cheering me on; it kept me pushing through to the finish." 6 JEREMY MARTIN (DNF-3) 11TH 250MX Geico Honda's Jeremy Martin had what seemed to be an electrical problem in the first 250MX moto after working his way up to sixth past the halfway point, and he ended up scoring a DNF. Despite starting from the far outside for moto two, Martin was still able to push his way through to a very solid third in the second moto, though, passing his brother Alex for the position in the last few laps. "Yeah, we had about 10 minutes to go in moto one, and unfortunately the bike bogged off the face and I almost went over the bars," Martin said. "I tried to do what I could to get it started and I got it running and it was kind of going in and out. I tried to just idle it, but then it died, and I pushed it back and the Geico Honda team worked really hard and got it going and figured out what the deal was. I had 35th gate pick there and I was just reeling those guys in. I'm strong again this year, and I knew that there'd be some guys fading up there in the front, so it was pretty cool. I was pushing Forkner pretty hard—really hard—and I saw Big Al up there and I was like, 'It's time to show him who's the boss!' So, we had a good fight there, and it's good to see the Martin boys up front." 23 AARON PLESSINGER (3-5) 3RD 250MX Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha's Aaron Plessinger had a solid day of racing at Hangtown, but he admitted the heat got to him a bit near the end of the second moto, despite the fact that he was one of few riders running a Camelbak for hy- dration. "It helped out a little bit, but you don't find a lot of time to take a drink with a Camelbak on a motocross track," Plessinger said. "But I'm super-stoked with the start I have to the season, and I'm kind of speechless. It's pretty hot out here, and it was a great race."

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