Page 16 - GRIT_70

JUSTIN BRAYTON
450 SX / 4TH
IMAGE / REEVES WORDS / WARNER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Braytona might be over, but the fans of Supercross are holding onto it for as long as the can! Numerous interviews and even a TV special right before the Main Event for Jus- tin Brayton make it hard for the fans or even himself to move on from last weekend and focus on this weekend’s race in St. Louis, but the just turned thirty-four-year-old veteran was out to prove he wasn’t suffering from a first win hangover. Sitting in third place in the point standings Justin would come rolling into St. Louis as if he just crossed the Daytona finish line in qualifying. I don’t think anyone was surprised to see Eli Top at the top of the pole after qualifying as he has been on rails these past weekends, but Justin Brayton
in position number two had many wondering “This might not be just a one race wonder, Brayton is here for real!” A poor start in his Heat Race made me think “hmm, I don’t know, we might be looking at the same Brayton we were seeing a few weeks ago.” I could not have been more wrong! After starting in the first gate to the right of the bridge separat- ing the starting gate (which I really questioned) he would come around turn one in fifth place. This is where it got good! Justin would remain in fifth for the first three laps stalking the riders in front of him. Tyler Bowers would fall while leading the race and Justin would take the spot from Christian Craig on lap three. On lap five he picked off Broc Tickle. He then dropped the hammer even more, chasing down Dean Wilson and wasting no time making an aggressive pass into the lead and cruising to victory. Let’s keep CeleBrayton! The same gate choice in the Main Event would lead him to the same start, fifth place across the stripe. On the opening lap he would get shuffled back into the seventh spot to cross the finish line for the green flag, but he would shortly move back to fifth and then into fourth. Justin rode the way Justin does in the Main Event. Clicked off smooth lap after smooth lap of consistent times. Justin just didn’t have the speed to catch the riders in front of him. He spent the majority of the race four to six seconds behind third-place finisher Marvin Musquin. Maybe he would have been able to beat them had he started in front of them, or maybe not. Whatever the case may be, Brayton is for real in 2018. Cur- rently sitting third in points with six rounds remaining odds are Justin will not be able to catch Jason Anderson, but another mistake by second place rider Marvin Musquin could easily land Justin number two in Championship. Time will only tell!
16 GRITMOTO • MARCH 18, 2018