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JUSTIN BRAYTON
450 SX / 14TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Aboard his Smartop MotoConcepts Honda, Justin Brayton has en- joyed a fairly successful season. The veteran has mastered his starts and consistently puts himself in favorable position. Those good holeshots have allowed him to showcase he still has some speed to contend with these young guns. He’s been able to lead laps in heat races and avoid extra track time in the semis on several occasions this year. He entered Detroit aiming to earn his fifth top ten finish on the year.
Brayton struggled just a bit in qualifying practice only able to notch the seventeenth fastest time. Nonetheless, he knew all he needed to jump- start his night was a good start in the heat race. And get a good start is exactly what he would do. Brayton rocketed out of the gate in his heat dicing with Ryan Dungey through the first few sections. He settled into second behind the Dunge as they took the green flag. He held onto the prized position to the finish despite a big battle with Dean Wilson. Wilson took over the position with a few laps to go but Brayton quickly retaliated and took it back and took it to the finish straight through to the main.
Brayton got a decent start in the main event rounding lap one in eighth place. He popped up to seventh just two laps in but then things started moving in the wrong direction. He lost two positions in consecutive laps sending him back to eleventh. He got slid back to twelfth just a few laps later where he tried to stop the bleeding. He was successful in doing so for a while but by the end of the race he would lose two more spots and finish in fourteenth place. It was an unusual race for Brayton as we usu- ally see him hold strong up front after good starts but it appeared that he just did not gel with the technical Detroit course.
72 GRITMOTO • MARCH 26, 2017