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MARVIN MUSQUIN
450 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Marvin Musquin has been in this position all too often the past couple of years, in both supercross and motocross; The runner-up in the points standings going into the nal round. He was in this posi- tion in supercross this year behind Jason Anderson and now he nds himself in the same exact spot as he was last year, behind Eli Tomac in the outdoor series. Musquin has fought hard all season long but just hasn’t been able to nd any counter measures for Tomac’s insane late race charges. None- theless, he has managed to only be down twenty points heading into this nal round so although his chances are slim, Musquin was going to give it everything he’s got to try and pull off a miracle in the mud. Musquin had a solid morning qualifying practice session as he went out and threw down the third fastest lap time of the class. He was just over a second slower than Tomac, so he would need holeshots like he got at our last mud race at Unadilla a few weeks ago to strengthen his chances
for the moto wins and/or to nish ahead of Tomac. The gate dropped in moto one and it did not see Musquin towards the front of the eld. He was in the latter half of the top ten and clawed to seventh place by the end of lap one. Even more bad news was that Tomac was ahead of him. He had his work cut out for him in the early going. He managed to make a pass on Dylan Merriam on lap three to take over sixth but other than that move, he wasn’t making up much ground on the riders ahead. He circulated in sixth for the rst half of the race and just didn’t seem comfortable. This changed
in the second half of the moto because he visibly started to ride with more urgency. He caught up
to Chad Reed and passed him on lap nine for fth and then passed Phil Nicoletti on lap eleven for fourth. That would be where he would end up nish and that pass on Nicoletti was huge because it meant that the title was still up for grabs in moto two. He was down twenty-four points so although it was mathematically possible, he would need to win moto two and hope for Tomac to nish outside the top twenty. Moto two started slightly better for Musquin as he rounded the opening lap in fourth position. He was ahead of Tomac but was far off the lead, so he would have to try and string together an all-time ride to the front if he wanted any chance. He tried his hardest, but he just couldn’t make up ground on the leaders. Eventually, he worked up to Cooper Webb in third and the two riders would aggressively ght back and forth for the position. They were bar to bar in several sections before Musquin was nally able to take the spot. But a half lap later, Musquin would run into a lapped rider who had crashed and get momentarily held up, allowing Webb to get back by. A few laps later, the two riders hooked up again and fought ercely but Musquin would get back by. Once nally in a solidi ed third place, the damage was done ahead of him and the two leaders were far gone. Mus- quin would nish the moto in third and fall short of winning the title. His 4-3 moto scores earned him third overall on the day and he will go into the offseason red up and hungry to come back next year.
38 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 26, 2018