Page 42 - Issue 79

MARVIN MUSQUIN
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Marvin Musquin has kicked off the 2018 outdoor motocross series with his usual con- sistency. Coming close to the outdoor title last year and the Supercross title earlier this
year, many expected Musquin to come out ring at the rst few rounds. He has voiced how hungry he is to capture that elusive rst 450 title and at Hangtown, he showed it. Despite n- ished 2-2 for second, Musquin threw everything he had at Eli Tomac but came up short both motos. He looked aggressive and everyone pegged those two to ght to the nish the rest of the season. But then at round two at Glen Helen, Musquin just didn’t have that same spunk. He would go 2-3 for second overall but it was a distant second overall. His speed was not on par with Tomac but to be fair, no one was even close to Tomac’s speed that day, especially late in the moto. Musquin aimed to recapture that re and intensity at round three in Colo- rado. Musquin enjoyed a pair of fairly good morning qualifying practice sessions. The French rider quali ed with the fth fastest time, but he was still searching for answers. Tomac’s quickest lap time was a whopping two and a half seconds faster than Musquin so that left Musquin searching to nd that extra edge before the gate drops later in the day. Musquin got the good start he needed to kick off moto one. He was in fourth place early and trying to pass Phil Nicoletti for third when Ken Roczen snuck by. This put Musquin back to fth and he had to be frustrated after trying so hard to pass Nicoletti for two laps only to get moved back a position. He reignited and went after Roczen a few laps in but then the race got red agged. The restart did not affect Musquin all too much as he started right where he left off, fth place. He made a quick move on lap two to pass Weston Peick and then he settled in behind Blake Baggett. He followed his fellow KTM rider for the rest of the moto without many attempts to get close and pass. He would nish with a quiet fourth place. Musquin began the second moto in fth place right where he kicked off the rst “two” starts. He was pressuring Baggett once again and was able to snag a position on lap three thanks to a Justin Barcia crash. He nearly passed Tomac as well but Tomac was able to remount in time to keep him behind. Musquin had the opportunity to latch on with Tomac on his pursuit to the front, but he just could not nd that some groove. He slid into another distant fourth place. He clicked off consistent laps to the nish and he would mark 4-4 moto scores for the day for fourth overall. Musquin was visibly frustrated with the performances on the podium and he will look to use this week off to go back to the drawing board, so he can competitively mix it up with the front runners like he is clearly capable of.
42 GRITMOTO • JUNE 3, 2018