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WESTON PEICK
450 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Weston Peick enters Hangtown and the start of the 2018 outdoor motocross series coming off one of, if not his best, Supercross seasons to date. He was strong throughout the season’s entirety and logged some impressive performances. He really seemed to be gelling with his trusty JGR Suzuki. He capped off the season with a pair of sixths and sevenths and was eager to carry that momentum into the outdoor season. The outdoor series seems to t his rough and tough riding style better than Supercross, so big things are expected out of Peick here at Hangtown and beyond.
Peick endured the two morning qualifying practice sessions and came out of them with the eighth fast- est lap time of the 450 class. He looked like his usual self and everything seemed to be in order ex- cept for the fact that he is nursing some ligament damage in one of his hands. He was worried about how long he would be able to hold on in the motos, but he was going to give it his all no matter what.
Peick got his season going with a decent start in moto number one. The California native rounded
the opening lap in seventh position. The racing in the top ten was total chaos in the opening laps with riders dicing all over the place and that allowed Peick’s teammate, Phil Nicoletti, to pass him and push Peick back to eighth. Peick settled in back there but began to feel some pressure from Blake Baggett so he knew it was time to get moving. He passed a downed Christian Craig on lap four and then got back around Nicoletti on lap ve for sixth. From there Peick rode a great race distancing himself from the rest of the pack while slowly gaining on the lead pack ahead of him. He was constantly in the picture but could not get close enough to engage in any of the battles until three laps to go. He caught Ken Roczen and threw down some series pressure and snuck by him with just two to go. That pass would be good enough to put him into fth place and that is where he would nish the moto. It was a great rst moto to the season for Peick and he’d look to cap it off with another one in moto two.
Peick’s moto two ended up being quite the opposite of his rst moto. He started in fth and was able to move into fourth by passing Nicoletti on lap three. He looked primed to have another top ve nish but Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin had other plans. They both bumped him back a position sending him back to sixth on lap ve. Things got even worse because Tomac’s pass got him a bit out of rhythm and it allowed both Benny Bloss and Blake Baggett to pass him on the following lap sending him back to eighth. Things stayed interesting for another lap as he was able to regain one of those lost positions by passing Ken Roczen for seventh. The rest of the race would be pretty lowkey for Peick as he would maintain seventh all the way to the end. His 5-7 would get him sixth overall on the day. Nothing ashy but nothing bad either, it was a great performance considering his hand injury, which may have played a role in his second moto nish.
46 GRITMOTO • MAY 21, 2018