Page 18 - Issue43

MARVIN MUSQUIN
450 SX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANGSTON WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> Clearly achieving the results to designate himself as the third best rider on the tour of Monster Energy Supercross, the #25 KTM of Marvin Musquin has had an extremely successful 2017. There’s no doubt that the frenchman has had multiple flashes of brilliance in previous years but the consistent results and powerful pres- ence of Musquin continues to grow with each race that transpires. As the tour stopped in St. Louis on Saturday to begin the home stretch of the final four rounds, Marvin finds himself 3rd in the point standings with the #14 of Cole Seely still within striking distance. Hoping to add to the gap and stretch his lead, Marvin jumped out to a super solid start behind teammate Ryan Dungey and fellow competitor Chad Reed for heat one. With Dungey unable to make a move stick on Reed throughout the first half of the race, Marvin was able to hound the orange #1 bike. Unable to maintain the pace, though, Marvin dropped a few bike lengths to the leaders but with their battle slowing their speed, Marvin moved onto their rear tires as the battle heated up. With the race reaching the final stages, Dungey made his move around #22, thus opening the door for Marvin to make the move as well. The 2nd place ride earned Marvin a good gate pick for the main, but struggling out of the gate, Musquin entered the first turn buried behind the lead group. Unwilling to settle, the #25 took five turns to reach the top five, sliding around Baggett and Anderson to reach 3rd before the start of lap two. Marvin battled with the always aggressive Jason Anderson, but Musquin held the upper hand continuing to inch away from El Hombre as the race wore on. From there, at lease for the top four riders, the race was already over. Tomac and Dungey gapped out front, with Musquin rounding out the podium. After back-to-back weeks of finishing ahead of teammate, Dungey, it will be interesting to see how Marvin treats the intense points battle between the top two riders as the tour finishes the season. The story continues in Seattle next weekend.
18 GRITMOTO • APRIL 2, 2017