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VINCE FRIESE
450 SX / 13TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Vince Friese is once again back racing with the Smartop Motoconcepts Honda team. Although Friese will miss his longtime teammate Mike Alessi as he has retired from Supercross it will not derail his goal of making 2018 his best year yet. Vince has been apart of this team from its inception and has grown each year. There has been in a lot of controversy over the coarse of
his career but since he has partnered up with Brett Metcalfe in two seasons ago the problems with other riders are slowly dissipated. Friese seems to be settling in nicely in the premier division and although he may not be the fastest rider out on the track his dedication is rarely outmatched. It is clear that Brett is putting Vince through the right steps to improve his results as Vince moved his way into the top five in his heat race tonight at A1. Friese got off to an
8th place start and was quickly up to 6th after the opening lap. After two laps the #55 of Friese was in an impressive 5th. Dean Wilson crashed out of 4th and Vince was able to inherit the position. Shortly after Tomac made his way around Friese but further ahead Cole Seely fell leaving Vince in 4th. Near the end of the race Seely got back around Friese and he had to settle for 5th. In the main event the Smartop Motoconcepts rider rounded out the first turn in 13th, he was shortly dropped back to 15th for the majority of the race. Friese capitalized on the misfortune of Eli Tomac to get himself into 14th, and used determination to make his way around Tyler Bowers for 13th. Holeshots are usually the key to success for the #55 of Friese but this weekend at A1 Vince didn’t seem to get a good start at all and he put in some of his best riding to date. This was a silent finish but it will be interesting if Vince can get that top 10 when he gets one of his great starts.
60 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 8, 2018