Page 30 - ISSUE _38

JUSTIN BRAYTON
450 SX / 8TH
IMAGE /MPG WORDS /HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Justin Brayton has had quite the up and down season. The veteran from Iowa has showed he still has plenty left in the tank when he had fantastic sixth place ride in Glendale a few weeks ago. Other than that, he just has not been able to put together consistent main events. But when he has gotten a good start he has proven that he can still run with the young guns. After a DNF last weekend in Minnesota, Brayton was more than ready to put that behind him with a good finish here at the Georgia Dome.
Brayton struggled a bit in practice only able to throw down the fourteenth quick- est lap time. He has been around the block more than a few times so he knew the proper adjustments he and his team would make before the night show. His heat race did not go as planned as he suffered a subpar start back in ninth. He did show some good race speed and climb to sixth but it was not enough for a transfer and he was onto the semi. He got a much better start in his semi. He crossed the line in second place but surrendered the spot to Eli Tomac two laps later. He did well and kept him in sight but got passed one more time by Mal- colm Stewart dropping him to fourth. He would hold onto the position and secure himself a spot in the main event.
Brayton got an average start in the main going over the finish line on the open- ing lap in eighth place. He did not hold onto that spot for long though as a charging trio of Anderson, Tomac and Musquin came by pushing him back to eleventh. He stopped his free fall there and slowly but surely clawed forward. He picked up a spot when Reed crashed in the whoops and then picked up one more when Bogle got taken out by Musquin. He then caught teammates Mike Alessi and Vince Friese and worked his way around them in the latter half of the race. All those moves were good enough for him to finish the race right where he started in eighth position. It was not pretty but it was second best finish of the year. Brayton can take that positive and carry it over to an even better race next weekend in Toronto.
30 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 26, 2017