Page 14 - Issue_60

JUSTIN BARCIA
450 SX / 3RD
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Justin Barcia’s offseason was quite up and down. After struggling mightily throughout the entirety of 2017, Barcia was left without a ride and searching for answers as the leaves began to change colors. He went back to Millsaps Training Facility and began training in
the hopes of impressing a team and landing a ride but the phone never rang. Just when it appeared all hope was lost; Monster Energy Factory Yamaha finally rang and gave him the opportunity to fill-in for the injured Davi Millsaps at the first six rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series. Barcia jumped on the opportunity, happy to have the chance to impress everyone who had given up on him. Being back on a Yamaha was another plus be- cause he had been much more successful on that in the past than the Suzuki he struggled with in 2017. Anaheim 1 was marked on his calendar as the day to show the industry he still has what it takes to be successful. Barcia certainly looked fired up right from the get-go at Angel Stadium. He went out and threw down the third fastest lap time of the day and looked much more comfortable than he did a year ago. He picked up where he left off in qualifying practice during the heat race because despite a sixth-place start, he made several aggres- sive moves to jump all the way to second place by lap three. Then two laps after that he worked his way around leader Justin Brayton to take the lead. Once there, he checked out and took the surprising heat race win. No one expected Barcia to be on this level or at least not this soon in the season. But he surely looked ready to compete as they retooled and got ready for the main event. Barcia hopped out to a great second place start in the main just behind holeshot winner Eli Tomac. Barcia did his best to stay right with the rider who won nine races a season ago and he fared well. Tomac was able to inch away but not by much. Barcia stayed with him and that paid off on lap eight when Tomac would crash giving Barcia the lead. I’m sure nearly everyone in the stadium was stunned to see Bam Bam Barcia out front leading midway through the main event after how rough his season went last year. Nonetheless Barcia was out there riding with passion and looking extremely rejuvenated. However, his dream run at a victory would be dashed just a few laps later by a charging Marvin Musquin. Musquin caught Barcia and passed him on lap eleven. Barcia then got passed by Jason Anderson on lap fifteen but stayed glued to his rear wheel all the way to the finish line. Barcia’s third place finish was probably the surprise of the night but to him, it was no such thing. He envisioned himself there and he surely loved showing everyone who stuck behind him through all the bad times that he can still strongly compete for wins.
14 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 8, 2018