Page 76 - MARCH_ISSUE

MATT SHUE
PLUS 25
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> Brett Cue shot out to an early advantage in the 25+ class as he put the Honda power down to the tacky Georgia clay and won the fight to the first corner. The Oklahoma native kept it smooth and flowy on the opening lap as he came under slight pressure from the Suzuki of Matt Shue, and the two of them immediately gapped the rest of the field. They were involved in a battle of their own for the lead, but Cue was able to just barely squeak out a gap over Shue in the first couple laps. They had different approaches through the whoops section where Cue was gaining a fraction of an advantage, skimming the whoops as opposed to jumping them, but they were evenly matched throughout the rest of the course. Cue was able
to tame the power delivery a little bit better in the bowl turns, but Shue was using creative lines in order to maintain his lead. As the laps wound down and the battle began to heat up, Cue suffered a bike malfunction in the opening rhythm section which forced him to pull off the side of the track and dismount his machine, forfeiting the lead to Shue. The intensity of the race was immediately deflated as Shue found himself with a massive advantage ahead of the Kawa- saki of Michael Mercer, therefore allowing him the opportunity to cruise to the finish line with a comfortable victory, but he exclaimed in his post race interview that he hates to take a win due to a me- chanical failure by one of his competitors.
76 MPG • MARCH 2017