Ben LaMay – Whitby Race Report

Coming into this weekend’s Red Bull Pro National
at Whitby,
Ben LaMay was on a hot streak and looking to close in on the
Championship
lead.  Ben wasn’t the only thing
hot as this round brought the seasons hottest temperature and some of
the
driest track conditions the riders have seen so far despite the track
crews
best efforts. 

The
young LaMay started off the weekend right where he left
off the previous week laying down the quickest qualifying time out of
the
30-rider field.  Going into the
first moto as the number one seed gave Ben the confidence he needed to
pull the
holeshot and break away from the swarm forming behind him. 
With the rest of the field right where he wanted them it looked
as if
moto one was going to go just as the native Alaskan envisioned, but a
little
too much speed entering a corner caused the front wheel to wash, sending
Ben
and his Samsung Yamaha to the ground. 
LaMay restarted the race from the back of the pack and mounted a
charge that
would have him finishing out the moto in 5^th place.

The second moto got underway much like the first
with Ben
pulling the holeshot and leading the majority of the first lap until the
race officials
red flagged the race and sent the riders back to the gate due to some of
the
gates getting hung up and not falling correctly, not what any rider
wants when
pulling a holeshot.  The second
gate drop went off without a hitch and LaMay was able to holeshot the
restart
just the same as he did moto 1 and the original start of moto 2.  LaMay never looked back, leading every
lap of the 2^nd moto and cruising to his 4^th moto
win this
season. 

The 5-1
result was good enough for a 3^rd overall
and Ben’s third trip to the podium in as many races.  LaMay
slipped 4 points to the
championship leader but still sits comfortably in second 14 points out
of 1^st
place. 

The Red Bull
Pro Nationals will take a one-week break before
returning to action on July 11^th at Pontrilas, Herefordshire.