Page 32 - ISSUE88

JUSTIN BARCIA
450 MX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> 2018 has been a year of resurgence for Monster Energy Factory Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. The for- mer race winner and perennial title contender struggled mightily during these past few seasons and was on the brink of retirement at the beginning of this year. No one wanted to give him a ride and he was preparing to go racing on his own dime. That all changed when a ll-in spot was offered to him by his current team and he instantly provided podiums and great performances in Supercross leading him to stay with the team for the rest of the year and beyond. He has gotten back to his old self and heading into Ironman, he’d have one more opportunity to show everyone. Justin Barcia was one of the few riders who welcomed the rain and muddy conditions with open arms. He is a great mud rider and was happy to go out and nish the season in it. He quali ed with the second fastest time in the abbreviated morning qualifying practice session and was ready for the gate to drop. In moto one, Barcia rocketed out to a great start right behind Chad Reed and Dylan Merriam. He made quick work of Reed and then set his sights on Merriam. It took him an entire lap, but he was nally able to run him down and take the lead. The track conditions were extremely muddy and sloppy, but he started to inch away from the pack. Things got interesting about ten minutes in however when Barcia would go down and allow Phil Nicoletti to take over the lead. Barcia also had to ditch his goggles but that didn’t prevent him from hammering past Nicoletti a few laps later to regain the lead. The rest was his- tory after that and Barcia went on to take a dominating moto one victory. It was his rst moto victory since 2015 and he would love nothing more than to top it off with an overall victory. Moto two kicked off quite similarly to moto one. Reed got out front early, but Barcia oored it past him in turn two to immediately take the lead. This time he had Ken Roczen right on his rear wheel offering a fair share of pressure. But Barcia remained fast and resilient and never let Roczen get too close. Then in the latter half of the race, Barcia broke free from Roczen and built up a large lead. That lead would come in handy because with two laps to go, Barcia would crash twice in the same section, but his lead was large enough that he maintained the lead. He would pull back ahead and go on to win the second moto to cap off an incredible 1-1 performance in the extreme conditions. It was a perfect way to end his comeback season and a perfect send off as he will represent the United States this fall in the Motocross Des Nations.
32 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 26, 2018