Page 51 - ISSUE 29

theGRIT
IMAGES / LAKE KILPATRICK
I’m sure Marvin Musquin was a little spooked coming into the Ironman national after the mechanical failure there that may have cost him the 250 championship just a season ago. But he is in the 450s now and has
likely put that misfortune behind him as he focused on putting together another solid pair of motos. He qualified eighth fastest in the mud and was ready to do battle in the motos. Musquin got out to a good start in the opening moto flying out of
turn one in fifth place. He would get by Bloss and Nicoletti on laps two and three to hop up to third. Once up there, he began stringing together some consistent laps but just did not look as strong as he has in previous weeks. That allowed Tomac to quickly close the gap in the latter half of the moto and make the pass for third. Musquin tried latching on but Tomac would slowly inch away. Musquin got a second chance in the final laps when Tomac suffered a minor crash but Tomac would be able to remount and get back by him before the end of the moto. Musquin would settle with fourth place. Musquin got a slightly better start in the second moto coming out in third. He looked a little tight as he lost tail with Barcia early on and allowed Tomac to close in once again halfway through the moto. The two would battle momentarily before Tomac would wrestle third place away for the second moto in a row. Musquin would then get passed by the returning Jason Anderson right after that but would be able to battle his way back in front to resecure fourth. From there Musquin would pull out on Anderson and ride to another fourth place finish. His 4-4 moto scores on the day had to be slightly disappointing for the Frenchman as he prides himself on being a podium rider but he ended up third in the championship standings. You can definitely call the Red Bull KTM rider’s rookie 450 campaign a big success.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
51