Page 100 - MPG15

JOSH GRANT
Josh Grant wasn’t sure what bike he was going hopping on for the 2016 racing season after Chad
Reed decided to close the doors on the TwoTwo Motorsports operation. A bit of good fortune provided Grant with the opportunity to take Ryan Villopoto’s empty Monster Energy Kawasaki seat for the Glen Helen GP in the fall of last year. He was able to grab a 2nd overall ahead of Cooper Webb, losing to the eventual MXGP Champion Romain Febvre. Grant was hoping to raise his stock a little bit with his performance at Glen Helen. He definitely proved he still has the speed to warrant a factory ride, but the result was taken with a grain of salt because it’s Grant’s home track and he knows the place extremely well. He started off the 2016 season at home, spending time with his family and watching the races from his couch. Will Hahn was cruelly forced out of action in a horrendous crash earlier in the year at the Atlanta SX. The following weekend in Daytona, Grant decided to show up in privateer style with a bike and a box truck after driving all the way across the country from California. He showed tremendous speed on a challenging track under the lights of the Daytona Speedway and finished an impressive 7th place in the main event. His impressive performance at Daytona and his connections with Kawasaki earned him a replacement ride with the Monster Energy Kawasaki team which has turned out to be a great fit. Grant has regularly put himself in the fight for the top 10 and has been steadily improving as he gets into race shape. It’s incredibly impressive for him to be mixing it up with all these riders that have half a season of momentum in their favor.
100 GRITMOTO • APRIL.25.16
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