Page 44 - MPGOCT

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point of the race. On the 4th lap, Mashburn crashed out of second as he swapped sideways coming up the finish line jump, putting him out of competition for the rest of the weekend. Brown locked Kobusch in his sights and began to close in on the Kawasaki rider, making a pass for the lead on the penultimate lap. He was able to pull away from Kobusch and win the race by approximately 2 seconds. Zane Merrett rode within the top 5 for the entire moto, eventually moving his way into 3rd with only a couple laps to go. He was able to hold off a late charge from Jesse Flock as the Yamaha rider had to work his way through the pack after an 8th place start. In the second moto, Kobusch put the Kawasaki power down to concrete better than any of his competitors and he set sail into the distance. He was able to set the fastest lap of the moto at the middle point of the race, consistently increasing his gap over his training partner, Jesse Flock. TLD KTM’s Pierce Brown was working his way forward from a 5th place start and crashed after the triple before the finish line, forcing himself out of the race. Merrett rode a consistent race in 3rd place from the beginning to the end, earning himself 3rd overall on the weekend.
44 MPG • OCTOBER 2016
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