Page 26 - Issue_sixtyfive

WESTON PEICK
450 SX / 7TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> At this point in the series, the majority of the time, the serious contenders have been cast, and many others can be pushed to second, and third tier. If you think about series in the past, you can see that there’s always been a leader by this point, or significant person(s) who seem to be a tick or two ahead of everyone else. Carmichael, Stewart, Dungey, Villopoto; however, there isn’t anyone like that this year, with the detriment of Ken Roczen’s injury, Musquin’s crashes, and Tomac’s misfortunes. That leaves the door open for riders like Weston Peick. And as the San Diego practiced commenced, you could tell he was salivating at the opportunity of high placing, knowing what had been laid before him. Scoping the track left and right, he was one of the first to try the outside of the two-way corner, blitzing out of the left hander, and off the table-top. Each lap,
his time would be chipped away, as though his wedge was being driven into the sand. Sinking the putt at the finish line, a slight fist pump was given, knowing he’d been placed for a good gate pick, come time for the heat race. As the field would bottleneck for the opening laps of this event, he would look to differentiate himself; hitting both inside, and outside of the whoop section, his act of “sling-shotting” over the jump across the me- chanics section, would power drive him ahead of the likes of Josh Grant. Never batting an eye at who he was in front of, he would go on to launch the final double in third. The fire would shoot from afar for the main event, and the race would be underway. Looking to penetrate early, he would take a stab towards the front of the field; it was to no avail. The laps, beginning to really flow with this relatively easy layout, would amass, but his position would slightly stagger. The effort was there though, and as he would launch the back-to-back triples, his eyes would catch the flash of an Iphone; he knew they were watching, and he had to continue on, both for he and his fans. Never backing down
from the pressure of Justin Barcia, following his horrendous start, his level of aggression would only rise as the clock would strike zero. If he was able to hold off the opposition, he could carry a seventh into next weekend; he would do so, and as thankful as ever. Looking to improve in the weeks to come, he was eager to go back to the test track, and capitalize on his weak points.
26 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 11, 2018