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BENNY BLOSS
450 MX / 8TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Benny Bloss has had quite the breakout year here in 2018. After nishing better than eleventh just three times in his Supercross career, he nished better than eleventh at seven
of the last nine supercrosses including three top tens and an impressive career best sixth place at the nale in Vegas. He kept the good times rolling right into the outdoor nationals
with a seventh place overall at the opener at Hangtown including a strong fth place in moto two. He salvaged an eleventh at Glen Helen after a big crash in the rst moto. It looked like
he wouldn’t even line up for the second moto, but he would come back strong and nish it in sixth. He had another very impressive day at our last race in Colorado. He went 6-5 for fth overall, clearly establishing himself as a consistent top ve threat for the remainder of the season. Bloss was happy to be back on the east coast when the series stumbled into High Point. The Missouri native enjoyed a strong showing in the morning qualifying practice ses- sions. He would come out of them with the seventh fastest lap time and was ready to use his height and length to his advantage navigating the rough and rutted course. Like many other riders, Bloss fell victim to the massive rst turn pileup that began moto number one. Luckily, he was able to remount much quicker than the rest of the riders involved, and he had worked his way into twenty-fourth by the end of lap one. He was making quick strides to the front. He hopped into twelfth by lap three and then ninth by lap four. He was wasting no time because he knew that the lead group would try and pull away from the rest of the eld. He passed two more riders on lap ve to move into seventh place. His charge was very impressive, but he still wasn’t done. He reeled in Cody Cooper in the latter half of the moto and would make a pass on the New Zealand rider to move into sixth. There he found himself rather lonely and would end up nishing the moto right there. It was a great come from behind ride and he was looking for an even better result in moto two. Bloss got a much better start in the second moto coming out of lap one in eighth. The next few laps for him would be quite hectic. He and Justin Hill ercely went back and forth. The two swapped positions several times before Hill nally made the pass stick on lap ve. Bloss still managed to move up a position though because he was able to pass Phil Nicoletti on lap ve as well. Bloss continued logging solid laps behind Hill but could not get close enough for a pass. Then at the halfway point his teammate, Blake Baggett, passed him sending him back to eighth. Bloss settled into the position and like in the rst moto, quietly rode to the nish line. His 6-8 moto scores earned him eighth overall on the day. Pretty strong performances from the young 450 rider but he would like to be a little more closer to that top ve next weekend at Muddy Creek.
52 GRITMOTO • JUNE 17, 2018