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WESTON PEICK
450 MX / 8TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Each track on the professional tour is often known for a certain trademark or distinction that’s relative to it’s particular brand. Red Bud has LaRocco’s Leap, Millville with its Mt. Martin climb; and Unadilla, along with the sky-shot tabletop, is notorious for the outrageous amount of grooves developed by the end of a race day. The track owners have created
a bit of eerie mystique in their preparation of the event, tilling and grading to just the right sculpt, in order to form one of the roughest tracks in the world. Weston Peick enjoyed
the challenge, marveling as he waited for the green ag to drop for practice. He and the mechanic practiced what seemed to be a handful of starts, mimicking timing patterns with a mere dirt clod and anticipation. With both clutch and body temperature heating up, the steam would rise from beneath the shell of his helmet, reiterating the ample amount of effort he was providing. The rst moto was underway, and as the eld came across tim- ing and scoring, he registered ninth. His mechanic was keeping him in constant tune to his laptimes, as that’s what they decided to pursue in the pre-race memo. They gured
if their speci c marks were hit each lap, that others around would falter to mistake, and they would move up as a result. It would work, as he created an ef cient moving pattern throughout this winding conveyor belt of a track; hooking into these slots as if they were magnetic grooves, you could see as the race went on, he would begin to pull from Toshiki Tomita behind him. He put his focus towards the foreground, eyeing the checkered ag for what seemed like miles. Crossing the nish line, all signs pointed towards a ninth place nish, where he would reside. It was time to duplicate his efforts for the second round of racing, where he vaulted forward in the early laps. Dodging kickers and potholes as if they were landmines, he had to be on such high alert, or otherwise his visor would be snapping into mother earth. Keen on attention to detail, he made sure to keep his momentum going, even into the turns that were starting to hook. As riders behind him would charge a bit too harsh, he would let the engine break just a hair, and ow into the apex of the corner. The result? A substantial pulling from the number 718 who sat behind; eighth place was his, and the record books would record him in eighth overall.
52 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 12, 2018