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MARVIN MUSQUIN
450 SX / A2
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> With another offseason of Aldon Baker training under his belt, Marvin Musquin is looking as fast and consistent as ever. The French rider has kicked off his campaign with two straight third place finishes. He has shown vast improvement from a year ago where he was very inconsistent, ranging from contending for race wins to barely making top fives. Despite his strong performances to start the year, Musquin has voiced his frustration on not being able to challenge the two riders who have finished ahead of him at both races so far, Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen. He would try to channel that frustration and try to improve this weekend at Anaheim 2. And Musquin sure looked good in practice, clocking the second fastest time and narrowly missing out on the pole position by a few hundredths of a second. He was prepared to go to work during the night show and try to chip away at the gap those top two guys have been putting on him. Musquin was involved in a chaotic heat race that saw him crash while trying to move into transfer position. There were about four riders all trying to get through the same turn and unfortunately he got tangled with Anderson who he was taken out by Friese. It was a bummer for all involved and it forced Musquin to
try and transfer through the semi. The semi would be much easier for the Red Bull KTM rider as he quickly got into the lead and churned out some fast laps en route to the win to prep himself for the main event. Musquin roared out of the gate in the main and rounded the first lap in fifth place. He was in good starting position and made use of it by passing Josh Grant and Cooper Webb easily in the opening few laps to secure third. From there he set his sights on the #14 of Cole Seely but then Roczen would come sweeping by and he tried latching on. Musquin didn’t let him get away and would regain the position when Roczen got launched through a rhythm section crashing hard. He then was gifted second after Seely stalled his Honda allowing Marv to move right on by. Musquin did his best to try and track Dungey down and he chipped away at the lead making it a mere 2.7 seconds as they crossed the finish line. Musquin would come away with the second-place finish and a confidence boost as he was able to make up some ground on the reigning champion.
10 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 22, 2017