race recap
ENZO LOPES | GRIT-217 | 250SX
April 25, 2023 · Enzo Lopes
ENZO LOPES | GRIT-217 | SX 250
The ClubMX Yamaha rider, Enzo Lopes, would excel amongst an absolutely stacked field of competition in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Saturday night. Lopes had steadily built quite the resumé thus far in 2023, and made sure to put a definitive "stamp" on his results amongst top-tier talent while racing at MetLife Stadium. For practice, the speed of the number fifty-six would have him ascending to the top of the leaderboard, where few could rival him prior to embarking on his heat race. And as the green flag was thrown, it would be Lopes who resided around the sixth place standing, fighting for every inch of racetrack possible while attempting to reel-in Jett Lawrence and RJ Hampshire. For five laps, Lopes was hovering between the fifth and sixth place residencies, prior to attempting to overtake Pierce Brown for fourth. The Yamaha athlete would come extremely close to doing so, but it was Brown who prevailed as the checkered flag was thrown; leaving Lopes to compete amongst the mud-ridden raceway for the main event in the latter stages of the evening. His experience on foreign soils and unprepared tracks (of the past) would play into his hand as the green flag waved for the main event, launching the finish-line as often as possible in order to separate himself from fellow members of the pack. With Lopes residing around sixth, he would have to be mindful of sparing his vision and not moving too close to the rear wheel of other combatants around him, like Honda's Hunter Lawrence. He would remain behind the Honda athlete for quite sometime, until Haiden Deegan would work his way around just past the halfway point...but the rookie would fall shortly thereafter, and reassign the number fifty-six (of Lopes) to the fifth place position. He could see the likes of Lawrence and Maximus Vohland in the distance as the white flag approached, but seemed a bit too far out of reach as he swiped through all of the roll-off's on his goggle system; yearning to power across the finish-line with the bike intact and a top-five overall. That's exactly what occurred, as well, with Lopes staying mistake free on the last lap and doing what was needed to bring home a substantial accolade. Looking to build from the fifth-place standing in the coming weeks, watch for Lopes to "make noise" before the series concludes later this year.