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Forced to recalibrate himself to the race pace, Peick came out of the gate outside the top ten and crossed lap one in 11th. Peick was hungry, though, after not finishing a moto last weekend so he dug deep and reached 10th within five minutes and began his charge on the back wheel of newly returned James
Stewart. It wasn’t for a lack of desire, but Peick seemed to hit a wall once in 10th and wasn’t able to truly contend Stewart for 9th. The minutes began to fall off the clock and as the race moved well past the midway point, Peick searched for answers. Finally, once the race entered into its final ten minutes, Dean Wilson, who was in 8th, began to drop his pace allowing Weston into 9th. Somehow, Weston muscled his way around Stewart late in the moto and was handed a gift when front runner Christophe Pourcel went down. Unable to muster any more of push to reach Andrew Short in 6th, Peick settled for 7th in a dominating performance following last weekend’s season ending implications.
Improving upon his jump in moto one, Weston came out of the gate inside the top ten in moto two and crossed lap one in 8th. Getting around Brayton early, Peick earned 7th by round one knockout. Up in round two was Andrew Short and the story didn’t veer off course too far as Short followed Brayton to the mat, letting the #28 machine into 6th. Once he got by, Peick was left with fellow bash brother, Bam-Bam Barcia and the two matched each other in speed. A couple seconds behind, Peick took his time and wasn’t able to make any serious progress to draw his teammate in. Eventually, Barcia made his way by Dean Wilson for 4th leaving Peick to follow the #15 for half a lap. Realizing he had a limited amount of time, Weston came in hot to the inside in the S-turn to take the 5th spot away. Peick was, then, instantly on the back of Barcia and pushed his way by as the moto inched towards the final five minutes. Staying in front of Bam-Bam while both laid down impressive late race lap times, Peick held 4th until the final lap where he was passed back by Barcia and was left for 5th at the line. The 7-5 earned Peick his best performance of the season with a 4th overall and picked up two of the positions he lost in the standings getting him back to 14th. With three rounds left, if Washougal’s any indication, Peick’s got a strong eye on the top ten by seasons end.
words/BRENTECKERT
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