SETH HAMMAKER - GRIT 244 250SX

GRIT-244 |250 SX

May 20, 2024 9:45 am

Preparing to embark on a demanding, three-portion main event sequence in the evening hours, Pennsylvania's Seth Hammaker looked ahead to the rutted soil(s) of Indianapolis as an opportunity to display incredible race-craft aboard his Kawasaki chassis. He and his surrounding crew had tirelessly prepared both front and rear suspension settings to handle the demanding canvas of Lucas Oil Stadium. And it was evident as he made his way through practice sessions, that rebound and stiffness components were on point - translating to notable lap-times before athletes rolled onto the starting grid for the opening main event. In the seconds that followed, twenty-two of the world's fastest racers converged into the opening bend, jousting for position with their fenders and handlebars as a weapon of advancement. He would reside in the latter stages of the top-ten in the early going while continuing to chip at away at a faster circuit time in the laps that followed. He would anticipate Pierce Brown, who trailed, to dive to the inside in the largest of bowl turns. In particular before the "SX" triple where the Utah rider would aim for his rear fender with that of his front wheel. Though they avoided confrontation and continued to move forward in the minutes that followed, with Hammaker keeping the aforementioned opponent at bay, along with Nicholas Romano and countless others until the checkered flag was thrown. Eventually categorized in third, after pushing forward and capitalizing on mistakes from Tom Vialle as well. He was then on his way to a successful second main event, if he could embody the same mindset. As pins unlatched for the following bout, Hammaker acquired third in the earliest of stages. Landing from the finish-line jump with the engine pinned, he would wait until the last possible second in order to down-shift in the corner thereafter. His plan of infiltrating the smoothest lines, and not necessarily the main grooves, was working - battling with that of Cameron McAdoo and Jalek Swoll, while doing his best to claim the second-place position. Though the Iowa native worked his way by, both were about to pass the Floridian when a vicious slam threw Seth to the ground in the longest rhythm lane on the track. It was a devastating crash, but he managed to rebound in tenth while quickly trying to reacquire his pace. Another mistake was unfortunately made on the seventh circuit which diverted him to sixteenth at one point...but he refused to quit - and garnered fourteenth as the checkered flag was thrown. There was little time for rest prior to the finalé taking place. But the final moto wouldn't necessarily begin as desired, as he was forced into a crash on the outside of turn number one...registering sixteenth, as the first full circuit was completed. Once back into the flow of the pack, he would dodge the pellets of roost that had now hardened, via ducking his visor across the longest straightaway. He would fight for every bit of racetrack possible, sliding into various berms with the engine pinned and unleashing a plethora of power as he exited. His set-up remained extremely polished as the checkered flag neared; and with the concluding main being summarized as the referee threw the aforementioned cue to cease engines, he would accumulate a hard-fought position of ninth, for ninth overall in the record book.

More from GRIT