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MARVIN MUSQUIN
450 SX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Welcome to Salt Lake City, Utah, the capital of this alpine state. Take a deep breath in, and exhale, getting a good cycle of fresh air through your lungs. It’s a feeling of elevation, and outdoor euphoria. Many visitors to the region crave that mountainous rush, that’s coupled with pushing the brink of disaster throughout this sierra landscape. That’s exactly what Mar- vin Musquin came here for, as it’s been a long, winding road to get to this point in the series. From the moment he stepped foot onto this chilly, concrete oor, he knew exactly what he desired for the remainder of the evening: and that was winning. For the commencement of practice, there was no shortage of urgency to get around the circuit as quickly as possible. Coming into the left handed sweeper that crosses the start straight, many riders were simply scrubbing this miniscule, steep tabletop prior to the bend; but he would actually click up a gear, and lean back ever so slightly. He would then launch into the start straight, rear wheel landing rst, and drive all the way around the corner. It was the little things like these, which propelled him to a solid time on the nal stat sheet. He rode this surge of momentum into the heat race, coming out of the hole like a bad out of hell. Never shying away from a rivalry, he wasn’t going to let Blake Baggett get the best of him, as they sat adjacent to each other in
the early going. Musquin was beginning to excel on this dusty, Salt Lake circuit. And ever so slightly, inching away from his fellow KTM partner. Wheeling, and keeping the front wheel as light as possible, wherever he went, he would eventually cruise to the win. The main event was here, and time for it all to rare to a head. The gate, slamming into mother earth, provided a “running of the bulls” into the rst corner. The green ag was the matador, waving, and propelling him forward, while he registered second, chasing Blake Baggett. He clung to that sense of motivation that drove him throughout the work week, and you could see the utter intensity through the goggle lens; wheel tapping through the small sand rollers after the nish line, he didn’t care what type of surfacing the track had come to, the throttle would remain pinned. With Blake Baggett staying towards his heels, after he made the move in the early going; he had a one-track mind going forward. The track, as slick as his home turf of French national layouts, acted as a course of comfort; and you could truly tell he was feeling at home on this soil. Every lap, he would register in the lead, although Baggett and Tomac would be- gin to stalk him. Hopping his way through the whoops, Musquin would hold an oh so certain lead, until the bitter end. It was here, that Musquin would cross the line and realize how far he’d closed the points gap. With Anderson’s mishaps, the points lead had slimmed consider- ably, and Musquin was genuinely excited.
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GRITMOTO • APRIL 29, 2018