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JUSTIN BARCIA |
J Justin Barcia is one of the biggest mysteries in the sport of supercross racing at the present time. The New York native was one of the most highly touted riders graduating from the 250 class back in 2013. Barcia won back- to-back 250SX East Championships in 2011 and 2012, and he went onto win the second 450 supercross race of his career in 2013 in Phoenix. Barcia added another win to his stats column later that same year and finished on the podium on three other occasions; it only seemed like a matter of time before the Geico Honda product matured on the 450 and began to challenge for race wins every Saturday night. The New Yorker was triumphing over some of the biggest and most successful riders that the sport has ever seen: Ryan Villopoto, Chad Reed, James Stewart, Ryan Dungey, and so on. Barcia oozed talent and if he was only able to groom his riding style to the needs
22 THE PULSE • FEBRUARY 2018
of the bigger bike, he would be a surefire championship contender. The following year didn’t go as planned for Barcia and the Factory Honda team as he was only able to earn fifth place overall in the final 450SX standings. In 2015, he made the move to JGR and struggled to get comfortable on the Yamaha (and eventually the Suzuki) indoors, currently leaving him without a supercross win since April of 2013. Barcia showed the determination to get back on track when he turned up to the Monster Energy Cup with a privateer Honda, but an injury from Davi Millsaps during pre-season testing provided the Factory Yamaha team with an opening for the beginning of the season. The rider out of New York penned a six race deal with the boys in blue and he’ll line up on the gate at Anaheim 1 with a point to prove. There’s no question that he has the talent to finish towards the front of the 450 class, but will he get on with the 2018 YZF450? Will he find the confidence that he rode with back in his rookie season? There are lots of questions surrounding the #51 heading into the season and only he