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Josh Grant has enjoyed a consistent and fast start to the season and picked up right where he left off in qualifying practice putting together the sixth quickest lap time of the class. He mentioned that Thunder Valley is one of his favorite races of the year so we were anticipating a strong
performance from the 33. Grant got out to a decent start in the opening moto in eighth position. He looked aggressive and fast early and made quick moves on Brayton, Nicoletti, and Barcia a few laps into the race. Once he settled into the fifth position he set his sights on Factory Honda rider Trey Canard. He slowly closed the gap on him and put the pressure on at around the halfway point. The two riders would dice back and forth before Grant would make the pass stick. It looked like we were seeing the old Josh Grant and he actually would move up into third place after Anderson pulled out of the race with a health issue. Just as
it looked like he was about to finish on the podium, Canard found a second wind and pulled right up on him making the pass for third. Grant couldn’t retaliate and finished the race in a season best fourth place. The second moto started a little better for Grant as he hugged the inside of the first turn coming out in third. He would quickly succumb to the charging Ryan Dungey falling back
to fourth but would get him right back after he went down. A few laps later Grant would fall back into fourth after Ken Roczen came flying by. Things began to happen a little too quickly for Grant and he would lose positions to Trey Canard and a fired up Eli Tomac. Back in fifth he tried to keep riding strong but the two KTM riders in Dungey and Musquin would pass him late in the race sending him to seventh. Barcia would then begin to put some pressure on in the final laps but Grant decided he had had enough of going backwards and weathered the storm from Bam Bam. It would be a 4-7 sixth overall performance for Grant as he continues his consistent season into the one-week break.
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