Page 98 - ISSUE42

VINCE FRIESE
450 SX / 16TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / WILSON
>> It was an eventful night for the #61 Smartop Motoconcepts rider of Vince Friese. Although Vince may be one of the best starters in the field, he struggled to put his Honda machine in the main event. After failing to qualify out of the heat race Friese was headed to the Semi’s. Vince got off to a great start in his semi and was battling inside of the top 5 that transfer to the main event. After the opening lap Friese was pushed to 5th and was trying to defend the position from teammate Mike Alessi. Although many believe Vince is a better supercross rider than Alessi, it didn’t look didn’t look like it as the #800 had a mid pack start and was on the tail of the Friese. After the long rhythm section going along the stands of the Detroit Stadium Alessi had a good run and tried to scrub by Friese. Mike was carrying too much speed and actually landed on his teammate. Vince was able to stay aboard his machine but went off the track pushing him from 5th to 7th. It didn’t take long for Vince to get around the Ya- maha supported rider of Alex Ray before beginning the chase for the final transfer. Vince tried to get by Alessi with two corners to go in the semi
but just couldn’t make it happen. Vince and his teammate talked after the race and everything seemed fine. In the LCQ Vince got the holeshot but was quickly passed by his partial teammate Kyle Chisholm in the second turn. Nick Schmidt followed his way past Friese in the whoops and Vince went from 1st to 3rd in less then 3 turns. By the time it was all said and done, Vince was on his way to the 20 minute plus 1 lap main event after an already long night of racing. Vince started mid pack in the main and was battling inside of the top 15 for much of the main event until settling in for 16th.
98 GRITMOTO • MARCH 26, 2017