Tyler Collingwood
Daxton Bennick has had a rough start, and I’m not going to lie, I have been pretty hard on the guy in some of these articles.
Myself, like many others, had super high expectations for the kid and I think we have all been caught off guard how this season has gone so far. If you read my last article you’ll see his stats are not where we all expected him to be.
Alright, now that you’re caught up on his stats so far, you’ll be happy to know Dax looked like his normal self this past weekend at Southwick.
With Southwick being one of the most difficult tracks on the circuit, I was afraid this was going to be another gut punch for not just Dax, but for all the rookies who were getting their first experience of the brutal sand track.
Qualifying in the 25th position, was 5-6 spots back from where Dax normally qualifies, but I wasn’t worried, I knew this would be the round we see the Star Yamaha rider fire up and show us what he is capable of. Bennick’s starts were much better this weekend, moving his season average up by almost a whole position.
When you get a start, you put yourself in a much better position for a better result and Dax did just that. Bennick was able to go 13-15 on the day for 12th overall, tying his best finish of the season. It was good to see him make passes and keep charging.
“Twelfth overall at The Wick,” Bennick said in the Star Racing press release following the race. “It’s not the result we are looking for, but we’ll keep learning and go back to work this week for RedBud.”
In past weeks Dax charged hard to make passes, but small tip overs would keep setting him back. To keep it on two wheels and make some passes has to feel good and boost the confidence.
This weekend we head to Redbud. Dax was the fastest qualifier here last year when he got in some gate drops before heading to Loretta Lynn’s. He went on to have a good weekend going 10-9 for 10th overall. I think we will see a whole new guy this weekend.
With the boost of confidence from the solid result last week and the good result last year in the back of the mind, you’d have to think he’s coming into this round with the most confidence he has had all year.
Could this be the weekend we see him crack into the top ten and flip his season around? I think so.
Main Image: Octopi Media
