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MATT BISCEGLIA
450 MX / 14TH
MAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> While preparing for the 250 East Coast Supercross series, Matt Bisceglia suf- fered a gnarly practice crash that resulted in a broken leg. He’d have to watch from
the sidelines for the rest of the series and shift his focus to a return for the outdoors. He marked his return to be Millville but a week before the race he got a call from RCH Suzuki to fill-in for injured 450 rider Broc Tickle. Bisceglia jumped on the opportunity and was still able to return at Millville. He already had experience on a Factory Suzuki 450 filling in for Factory Yoshimura Suzuki last outdoor season so the deal worked well for both sides. After some flashes of brilliance after some great holeshots at Millville and Washougal, Bisceglia seemed to be finding his race pace again as we head into the final three rounds.
Bisceglia looked to be improving in the morning qualifying practice sessions and he set the twelfth fastest lap time. He seemed primed and ready to get after come race time. The fans at Unadilla were treated to a Matt Bisceglia holeshot to begin moto one. He rocketed into the first turn wide open and made the famous drop into Gravity Cavity in the lead. He would continue to hold off teammate Justin Bogle for the following lap to officially lead a lap. Then just when things seemed to be going perfect, he would go down hard and to make things worse, it was on the downside of a blind jump and he had to wait on the side of the track before making his way back to his bike. He would end up not reentering the race taking the DNF. Such a bummer after a spectacular start but he would recover for moto two.
With the thirty-eighth gate pick for moto two, Bisceglia somehow still managed to nail a decent start in the sloppy mud. He came out of lap one in eighth position. He made sure to take advantage and he kept his Suzuki smooth and steady the entire moto. He made a move later in the race when Christian Craig crashed. He moved into seventh and he took it all the way to the finish. A seventh place in a complete moto was a great way to comeback from that disappointing first moto. His 38-7 moto scores gave him fourteenth overall which ended up being his best overall so far this year. He will look to link two good motos together to secure a top ten overall before the season is over with just two rounds remaining.
64 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 13, 2017