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Phil Nicoletti entered Red Bud looking to put together two complete motos, something he has struggled with this season. He looked good in qualifying practice and ended up coming away with the eleventh
fastest time setting him up nicely for the day’s motos. Nicoletti has been pretty quick off the start this season and he kept that trend going for moto number one. He was up front early and traded position with Tickle before settling into fifth place after the opening laps had concluded. He looked fresh and loose and was holding his own up there. We have seen him make mistakes and fall backwards a few times this year but he was riding really strong this time and built himself a comfortable cushion over the rest of the pack. However late in the race he got caught and passed by two fighting Frenchman in Pourcel and Musquin. He fell back to seventh with just a few laps to go when he would suffer bike problems and DNF the moto. It was a huge bummer after he had a season best ride going for him. Nicoletti aimed to redeem himself in the second moto as he got out to a strong start in sixth place. However this moto, he just didn’t seem to have that some aggression and he started losing ground instead of gaining it. That mechanical failure in the first moto seemed to completely derail his momentum he had going for the day and he would end up falling all the way back to fifteenth. It was tough one to swallow for Filthy Phil because the day started off with such promise.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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