JASON ANDERSON

Through the muddy conditions of practice on Saturday morning, Jason Anderson managed to remain an elite competitor among the 450MX division. The Kawasaki athlete was as versatile as ever, and created an array of strong lap-times across the statistics sheet...garnering third upon the conclusion of practice before embarking on the first moto. But the opening portion(s) of the first moto wouldn’t go as desired for the New Mexico native...fighting forward for a standing of sixteenth after undergoing a bit of misfortunate amongst the (heavily) sloppy racetrack. Though there were bits of dry terrain, and it would only become more applicable as the day went on, the muddy conditions from qualification were still relevant...forcing Anderson to slide the rear wheel around on a number of occasions, while block-passing, cutting across lines, and attempting to hover to outside berms that were littered across the raceway. However by the third lap, he seemed to be in a bit of a battle with Derek Kelley for ninth...but Aaron Plessinger would simultaneously work his way around. At that point, he followed the “mud-specialist” around the track and attempted to replicate the pathways of the KTM athlete. This enabled him to make a solid pass on Shane McElrath, while attempting to lessen the margin between and Dylan Ferrandis...but it was a race against both, the clock, and the former champion from France. Ultimately unable to surpass the athlete aboard the number fourteen, Anderson would still have to be acknowledged for his efforts to acquire seventh. In the following round of competition, Anderson would take the lead over Phil Nicoletti after a few corners of action, Anderson appeared to be on another level in the opening minutes of the second race. He sprinted, and would maintain the lead for approximately ten minutes of the contest...before running Jett Lawrence a bit “too far” wide, in the opening corner of the wooded area. Though deterring Lawrence for a few seconds, the inside lane was then opened up for Chase Sexton to take the lead! Subsequently sliding to third as they reappeared to the crowd, he would hang onto the podium position for as long as possible...before Hunter Lawrence surged forward via an inside move when exiting the wooded area, just prior to the eighteen-minute mark of the race coming to fruition. Fourth, at that point in time, Anderson was then as smooth as anyone else on the racetrack while maintaining the position inside the top-five. His distribution of weight aboard the Kawasaki was pristine and eventually carried him to a notable position of sixth in the overall standings — which was a remarkable effort within this stacked, 450cc field.