Page 18 - MPG19

theGRIT
IMAGE/ANDYCAVAZOS
Webb eventually used that line to work his way into 1st place with only two laps to go and put in his fastest time on the penultimate lap of the race. Martin didn’t give up the win without a fight, but he wasn’t able to match Webb’s late pace and he had to settle for 2nd. The second moto started the same way the first moto ended - with Webb pressuring Martin almost immediately, although the two
were battling for 5th place instead of the lead. A Mart was all over the track in an attempt to get around the Geico Honda of Jordon Smith for 4th place, he eventually made it work on lap 3 and slotted into 4th place behind Jessy Nelson. It seemed that he was still losing a little bit of time through the supercross section which allowed Webb to pressure him from behind, but Martin was able to use his speed on other sections of the track to gradually pull away. A mistake by Austin Forkner allowed him to move up to 3rd place towards the end of the moto, which put his first overall victory right into his crosshairs. In the waning laps of the race, Martin ran down TLD KTM’s Jessy Nelson with a fiery pace and used an inside/outside maneuver to make the pass before the finish line. It was another showing of uncharacteristic aggression from A Mart, blasting Jessy Nelson into the crowd along with a sand berm in the process. He was pushing on a busted up, deteriorated track until the very end of the race to keep his brother honest in 1st place, but he still did enough with a 2nd place to win the first overall victory of his career.
18 GRITMOTO • MAY.30.16
words/LAKEKILPATRICK