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WESTON PEICK
450 SX / 5TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Weston Peick left many questions unanswered in the 2017 AMA Monster Energy Supercross series. The four-year JGR Suzuki rider began the season with an eighth, seventh and fifth getting better and better at each round. Unfortunately, a wrist injury forced him out of the rest of the series and we were all left wondering what could have been if he stayed healthy. A consistent top five guy? A consistent threat at the podium? Peick was surely pondering the same questions as he trained by himself in Southern California throughout most of the offseason. He wanted to know for himself if he could have accomplished those things so that was his goal entering Anaheim 1; to pick up right where he left off. Peick’s start to the day was probably not what he was looking for. He only managed to have the fifteenth fastest lap time in the qualifying practice sessions. He did not let it get to him because he knows he has the abilities to make
the proper adjustments during the races to find that missing speed. Peick’s holeshot in the heat race was for from great as he came out of lap one in ninth place. Then after hanging down there for a few laps, he catapulted into sixth on lap three. He settled in there until Cooper Webb went down and then he took a position away from him putting himself up to fifth. From there he was able to hold off Webb down the stretch and finish there in the fifth position. He was looking forward to a better start in the main event. His start in the main was much better than it was in the heat race. Peick rounded lap one up in fourth place and looked ready to throw down. He was riding tough and aggres- sive and moved into third passing Jeremy Martin on lap two. He maintained himself up there for a couple laps before Musquin and Anderson forced themselves past on laps five and six. Then later in the race he regained his starting position of fourth thanks to an Eli Tomac crash. He would not be able to hold on to it though because the pressure applied from Ken Roczen for several laps in the latter stages of the race finally got to him on lap fifteen. Roczen sent him back to fifth where he would ride to the finish. The fifth-place finish from Peick was a great way to start the year because it is only his second top five in the last three years. He looked faster than ever and will look to play a role in the Championship chase.
20 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 8, 2018