Troy Dog
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With the off-weekend over and done with, I thought it would be a great idea to look at the results and pick five riders who will be better as the season goes on. These are riders that haven’t been able to show their true potential as of yet for whatever reason and their best races will be in the next 14 motos. Who did I miss? Let me know in the comments!
Dylan Ferrandis
Sure, he’s currently sitting second in the standings, but Dylan Ferrandis is not getting the results he expects from himself. He’s been more consistent than any other factory rider and has gone 3-2-5-4 to start the season. I think we will start to see a separation from one of these riders for that second spot in the running order and I think it will be Ferrandis. He’s the only former 450MX champion in the class and once he gets on a roll it would be cool to see him start to give Jett some fits in the remaining rounds. It’s a tough task, but that’s what I’m forecasting.
Levi Kitchen
The Chef hasn’t been able to prepare his finest meals so far, but don’t worry, his best races are coming. I had Kitchen down for an overall win or two this year and I still say that he gets the job done. You need to remember that last year was Kitchen’s first full season and he won a moto. The odds of him winning more motos this season are pretty high. Lawrence has been on fire, but he’s been beaten four motos this season and the Chef is going to get better as the season rolls on. Tracks like RedBud, Millville, and Southwick will be his strongest.
Preston Kilroy
I don’t know much about Kilroy other than he was a BarX rider at the end of his amateur career and then they brought him into the pro ranks. At High Point, Kilroy went 10-15 for 14th overall. The 10th was his best moto finish of his young career and it proved that he has what it takes to run with the top dogs. I think as the season goes on that Kilroy will only get better and he’ll impress a lot of people as the lone 250 rider for the ClubMX team.
Derek Kelley
I’m close to the Derek Kelley camp and I know that it’s been a rough go for him since SX ended. He spent time in the hospital and had a pretty significant injury at Salt Lake City. So, when he decided to line up for Fox Raceway I was shocked. This man had no business doing that. Yet, here he is racing back into shape and not even close to 100%. These guys are warriors I tell you. Kelley has been consistent though, the past two rounds put him 15th and 16th. The week off was a blessing and now WE are ready to get closer to the top ten at RedBud and finish off the season strong.
AP
Aaron Plessinger has been good to start the outdoor season, but he’s been crashing a lot and I’m not exactly sure who was riding his KTM at High Point. The point is that AP should be on the podium every weekend and his best tracks are coming up. Does he have enough speed to challenge Jett at RedBud or Ironman? That’s going to be tough, but AP will be strong on the back half of the schedule. I personally think he will be having his best 450MX races of his career coming right up.
Main image: KTM Images
