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WESTON PEICK
450 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> A few weeks ago, I touched on how fascinating Weston Peick’s consistency has been this year and it still remains true. The self-made southern Californian rider has nally conquered the one thing that has hurt him most in his career, his consistency. Dating all the way back
to the Minneapolis Supercross, Peick has nished no worse than seventh and no better than sixth overall. He has routinely put himself in good positions week in and week out while many riders struggle so dearly with it. It’s almost at the point now where a good thing is turning sour because although he has been so consistent, he has not been able to crack that top ve, being so close on numerous occasions during this streak. Heading into High Point, he would gladly accept breaking his sixth/seventh streak if it meant he nished inside the top ve.
Peick struggled a bit in the morning qualifying practice sessions. The west coast rider de - nitely had a hard time handling the rough and deep east coast terrain. It is the series’ rst trip out east this summer so there is certainly going to be some kinks to work out. Peick man- aged to power through and qualify with the eighth fastest lap time and he was ready to get things going in the races. Unfortunately for Peick, he would be one of the riders involved in a massive rst turn pileup at the beginning of moto one. He picked up his bike and immediately started plugging away, but he had massive amounts of ground to make up. Peick was so far back he didn’t make many passes early but on lap three, he made his biggest leap forward going from twenty-eighth to twentieth. His charge stalled momentarily there but he was able to reactivate it and get to twelfth by the halfway point. With the riders being more spread out and faster, Peick would only be able to make three more passes in the second half of the moto to nish in ninth. Still, coming from down in the rst turn to ninth is quite the task. He still would de nitely welcome a much cleaner second moto. Peick got through the rst turn unscathed in moto two and rounded the opening lap in seventh. He would quickly make passes on Toshiki Tomita and Phil Nicoletti during the rst two laps to hop into fth place. He locked in behind fourth place rider Justin Barcia and kept him right in his sights. The slight pressure from Peick might have in uenced Barcia’s lap ve crash which allowed Peick to sneak by and take over the spot. Peick was deep in the top ve and he would do whatever it took to not relinquish it. He made sure no one came close enough to him the rest of the race and he would hold onto the spot until the checkered ag waved. It was a lonely fourth place, but he would gladly take it. His 9-4 moto scores on the day however, would put him sixth overall on the day, just short of a top ve overall. Despite getting sixth yet again, it was another strong ride from Peick.
46 GRITMOTO • JUNE 17, 2018