Page 106 - MPG9

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Vince Friese thrives on the rough and tough tracks so he was definitely excited the season rolled into Daytona this weekend. His excitement carried through to qualifying practice where he would put in a very solid 10th fastest time in the stacked 450 class.
He looked to carry on his streak of good performances on into the night show.
The heat race kicked off with Friese nearly grabbing the holeshot but his momentum carried him too wide in the first turn shuffling him back to 4th. Drifting just wide in the first turn would set Friese back just enough putting him on the bubble of a transfer spot with Ken Roczen just behind. He tried to fend off the German but surrendered to him on lap 2 leaving him just one spot away from a transfer in 5th place. Friese was able to stay close to the top 4 for the rest of the heat but not close enough to fight for position that meant it was onto the semis.
The semi would be a wild one for Friese as he would try and maneuver for the lead around Justin Bogle who went down in the tight S turn before the finish line but he would end up bouncing off the track. He quickly got back on but AMA officials determined he didn’t get back as fast as he could have and ended up docking him a position. However that loss of position would not matter for Friese because he would end up coming over the line in 4th and being pushed back to 5th still meant he had a transfer and a trip to the main.
Friese suffered from an uncharacteristically bad start in the main event. He was nearly dead last after lap one when he began to put his head down and charge forward. The tight track and tough level of competition made it hard
on Friese but he was able to slowly but surely climb all the way up to 14th by the end of the race. It was a great performance from Friese but the result was not what was looking for. He will look to get inside that top 10 next weekend in Toronto.
106 GRITMOTO • MARCH.7.16
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