MARK FINEIS

Aspiring to prove that his performance at High Point could be replicated, Yamaha’s Mark Fineis appeared to be very determined to compete in his home area of the country. Hailing from Zionsville, Indiana, Fineis had excelled on this circuit in the past, and yearned to do the same as practice was intimate on Saturday. The field was very deep, however, and Fineis managed to obtain the twenty-second gate choice before sprinting from the grate(s) not long thereafter. He would acquire a position of thirteenth when scrubbing past the green flag, and his assembly of lines before the initial ski jump would be quite spectacular to view. Fineis momentum upon entering corners was next level, and he appeared to feed, off the enthusiasm from the crowd as laps progressed. There was minimal descending when entering into the corner before the roller section as well, where he used the loamy sand as a means of stopping rather than dragging both front and rear brakes. His output of velocity was impressive, and as he neared the halfway point, he appeared to be solidified in a sanding just behind Max Anstie and Pierce Brown — while keeping Nicholas Romano at bay. Into the final laps, the aforementioned trio would fly...and despite Ryder DiFrancesco remaining in the conversation as well, (two positions behind Mark), Fineis proved that he was one of the most talented rookies while striving for the finish line. Ultimately categorized in eleventh, he would exit the raceway while already game-planning for the following segment of competition. The action was intense amid the first five laps of round two, but Fineis remained calm and used the experience gained at High Point, as a means of remaining acclimated to the constantly evolving narrative. He would scrub the double portion of LaRocoo’s Leap before bombarding his way into the proceeding left-handed bend, using the forthcoming tabletop as a means to breathe and relax his grip with the roller section just ahead. He was steadily displaying a solid, average lap-time...never fading despite the conditions of the course becoming rather adverse when moving past the halfway point, and into the final quarter of the moto.  He and teammate Jett Reynolds had located one another for the majority of the race, and stayed intact with their pace, while on the horizon of the white flag. This would lead to Fineis defending his position from Max Anstie as they crossed the finish line, with the Indiana native solidified in tweflth, for a remarkable tenth-place overall score!