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JUSTIN BARCIA
450 SX / 9TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Justin Barcia was having a great rebuild year as he four top 5 nishes in the rst six rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series. At round
7 in Arlington Barcia missed a triple in his heat race and his throttle hand got landed on by Tyler Bowers. Justin Broke his wrist was broken forcing him out of competition for 6 rounds after that. He re entered the series last weekend in Minneapolis, he went on to nish 5th overall. Justin admitted that even if he looked great out on the track he certainly was giving it his all on the track and he was amazed by how much you loose in race intensity after missing a few rounds.
Although BamBamBarcia was nearly 2 seconds slower then Foxboroughs fast- est quali er Eli Tomac you wouldn’t be able to tell that the Yamaha rider was the 7th fastest guy as he went from 6th to 1st in his heat race in just a lap. The #51 also had to deal with immense pressure from the #3 of Eli Tomac on the last lap in the heat. Justin was able to successfully complete the task giving him rst gate pick for the main event. Sadly it was a woulda, coulda, shoulda night for the Factory Yamaha rider. Justin couldn’t get out of the gate quick enough in the main and was battling for positions 12th - 8th early. While mak- ing his way through the eld Barcia got pushed over a left handed berm by his old teammate Weston Peick. Barcia stayed on two wheels but it took him a bit of time to nd a way to rejoin the race safe and sound. This put Justin outside of a transfer position in 11th. BamBam got around Kyle Cunningham for 10th and then Friese to take away 9th. Look for Barcia to make a statement in the nal two races of the year.
62 GRITMOTO • APRIL 22, 2018