Page 10 - Issue_66

MARVIN MUSQUIN
450 SX / 2ND
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Nearly all of the title contenders coming into the season have had their fair share of dif culties and Marvin Musquin is no exception. The French rider who dominated the big races overseas and won the Monster million this offseason started off hot with a win at the season opener. Everything looked to be clicking but at round two he suffered a shoulder injury that has cost him. He struggled signi cantly at the rounds following that, but he has slowly worked himself back to full strength. He returned to the podium for the rst time since round one last weekend in San Diego and he was riding with an aggression we haven’t seen since then as well. He came into Arlington ready to take the one extra step and get back on the top step of the podium.
Musquin’s qualifying practice sessions went very well. He owed his way into the fourth fastest lap time of the day and was only a half second off the top time set by Eli Tomac. He knew he could make that small amount of time up with just a few minor adjustments before race time, so he could have his best chance at victory.
Musquin got off to a shaky start in his heat race. There were riders getting sketchy all over the track, but he managed to get through lap one in third place. He struggled to nd a rhythm early and that allowed Weston Peick to catch him from behind and make a tough pass in the tight one-hundred-eighty-degree corner before heading up the start straight. Peick drove it in hard
and completely took out Musquin’s front wheel knocking him down. Peick got through the rhythm beforehand so quickly that Musquin had no idea he was there, so he did not checkup which is why he got taken down. Luckily, he got back going in seventh and after battling hard and trading posi- tions with Cooper Webb a few times during the last few laps, he would stay there and nish in the seventh-place position.
Musquin started the main event similarly to how he started his heat race. He emerged from the rst lap in third and had his sights set forward. He was on Jason Anderson’s rear wheel during the opening lap and nearly made a pass before the whoops, but Anderson was able to hold the spot and open up a little gap over the next few laps. Musquin did not let him get too far ahead and that would pay off when Anderson would tuck the front end on lap four gifting Musquin second place. Musquin cherished that gift and held onto it all the way to the checkered ag. He just did not have enough to run down the leader Eli Tomac who was able to counter every inch Musquin gained on him. Although he did not get the win, Musquin must be happy and content with back-to-back sec- ond place nishes after the troubles he has had this season.
10 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 18, 2018