Page 18 - GM33

JOSH GRANT
450 SX / A2
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Josh Grant’s “return” to racing if you want to call it that has been quite successful. He basically came off the couch last year and earned a spot with the Monster Energy Kawasaki team after just a few races. He proved all the teams that passed on him wrong and he intends to keep doing so in 2017. Subpar starts have hindered the veteran rider from better finishes at the first two rounds but he has managed to stay consistent with a ninth and an eleventh. He’d like to be in that top ten and ultimately the top five so he was hungry for a better outing this weekend at A2. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider did not have the best of practices as he only notched the fifteenth fastest time but he knew he would have the competitive speed come race time. A bad start hurt Grant yet again as he started his heat race outside the top ten. In the short race, he did not have enough time to slither into a transfer spot so he was onto the semi. His semi was not much prettier either as he suffered another average start but he easily worked into a transfer spot and made it to the main. Grant finally broke the bad start curse in the main event getting things going in fourth place. He adapted well to the change of scenery and battled it out with Musquin and Roczen in the early stages. The two would best Grant sending him back to sixth but he remained on the offensive and ran down Cooper Webb around the halfway point. They swapped positions a few times before Webb said enough was enough and pulled back out. The battle might have slowed Grant down as it allowed Peick to come charging through in
the final laps and it is a difficult task trying to hold him off late in a race. Grant seceded to him and settled with a sixth-place finish. His best since Las Vegas of 2015.
18 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 22, 2017