Clean Sweep Triple Crown at Indianapolis 🥇🥇🥇
It took me a couple of rounds to get this done – I was too excited, too antsy, and it cost me. I've been so pissed off the last couple of weeks getting beaten, but we calmed it down tonight and let each race come to me.
Qualifying was pretty solid – we were second in each of the sessions. These East Coast tracks change so quickly throughout the day, and I knew it was going to be completely different from qualifying to the night show, especially having the 450s between the two or three races.
Race 1 started strong. I got a good jump and came out 3rd off the start. By lap 3, I passed Jo in the whoops section and set my sights on the race leader. Two laps later, I made the pass for the lead, also in the whoops, and pulled away. With three laps remaining, I caught some lapped traffic but managed it well and took the win by 3 seconds.
Race 2 was a battle. I came out 3rd again and went full send to make a pass for second early. Jo made a mistake and I moved into 2nd, but then I made a mistake of my own and Shimoda capitalized, dropping me back to 3rd. I didn't panic – I regained 2nd shortly after and by lap 5, I made the pass on the leader in the rhythm section. With 2 minutes to go, second place caught back up and the gap was less than a second, but I held strong and claimed my second win of the night.
Race 3 didn't start the way I wanted. I got boxed in around the first turn and came out 6th. By the end of the first lap, I was 4th. On lap 2, I moved into 2nd by going opposite lines in a section – it worked in my favour, splitting 3rd and 4th. By lap 4, I moved into the lead and never looked back. Winning the third race made it a perfect night in Indianapolis.
The Star Yamaha 250 was working incredibly all night, especially in the whoops and rhythm sections where I made most of my passes. I hate getting beaten, and tonight we came out on top. Big thanks to the entire Star Yamaha Team for giving me the tools to sweep Indianapolis.
Next up is the East Vs West Shootout in Birmingham. We'll be coming into this with the red plate and East Championship lead, but I won't be approaching this any differently.
Cole 🤙
