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Justin Brayton has had success at Las Vegas in the past and was aiming to back up his fifth place finish in East Rutherford with another one to cap off the season. In an abbreviated qualifying session due to the rare Vegas downpour, Brayton would come away with the twelfth fastest time but the playing field was even after the mud bog the track was made into for the night show.
Brayton has been an excellent starter all year but struggled all night long in Vegas. He got out to a rough start in his heat race getting stuck way back in tenth. The track was brutal with only one halfway decent line around the track making passing all the more difficult. He would only get up to eighth place meaning he had to try his luck in the semi. The semi came with another bad start for the BTO Sports KTM rider. He was about midpack out of the gate but made some crafty moves on the opening lap getting into the fifth and final transfer spot after lap one. Quickly after moving into fifth, Brayton would go down in the muck sending him back to eleventh place with a lot of ground to make up. He didn’t want to deal with the LCQ so he went on a mission the last two laps to get into the transfer positions. He would get into sixth and come up JUST short and be forced into the LCQ. Brayton definitely want to be in the LCQ so he made sure he ripped the holeshot and never looked back on the messy, muddy track meaning he was heading to the final main event of the year. Another bad start plagued Brayton in the main event and he would end lap one deep in nineteenth place. With nowhere to go but up, he started maneuvering his way forward. At this point of the night, the track was a complete mess other than the one main line around the majority of the track. Passes were interesting and it was a risk just pulling up along side someone, as riders were zig zagging all over. Despite all that, Brayton got into tenth place halfway through and then kept his momentum going all the way up into seventh by the end of the race. It was very impressive ride out of the veteran as he never gave up and continued moving forward throughout the entire race. It was a great way to cap off one of the better seasons of his career.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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