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JUSTIN BARCIA
450 MX / 5TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> What a year 2018 has been for Justin Barcia. He has gone from the brink of retire- ment, to potential race winner week in and week out in both motocross and Supercross. He has found a home with the Monster Energy Yamaha squad and it sure has been a good t. He has been out front leading laps at times and has de nitely emerged as a consistent podium nisher. We have seen glimpses of the old ‘Bam-Bam’ this season and his aggressive style and energy that he brings is a joy to have at the races. He entered the week off on a high note after notching his fourth straight podium at Red Bud. He was ready to make it ve as we enter the stretch run of the series. Barcia looked spunky and fast in the pair of morning qualifying practice sessions. The MTF product by way of New York threw down a fast time that netted him fourth fastest in the class. His speed was once again right up there with the top dogs and he was ready to ght them tooth and nail in the motos that lay ahead. Known for his good starts, Barcia failed to get one in moto one. He started outside of the top ten but managed to climb to ninth by the end of the opening lap. He did not like his positioning at all and started leaping past riders to the front. He hopped into seventh on lap two and then moved into fth on lap three but in just that short amount of time, the lead group had already distanced themselves from the eld. His speed was just as fast but not fast enough to gain serious ground. This left Barcia in
a lonely fth place the remainder of the moto. That is the consequence of a subpar start and in moto two, he would be determined to not let it happen again. Unfortunately for Barcia, the second moto started even worse. He came out of lap one in tenth place. Like in moto one, he made four quick passes to move forward in the rst three laps but ran into some trouble trying to pass Weston Peick for sixth. Barcia hounded him all moto but Peick wouldn’t break. The two riders, both with bulldog mentalities, enjoyed a erce battle on the rough and rugged terrain. Finally, on lap thirteen of sixteen, Barcia would be able to make the pass and take over fth. He would hold this all the way to the nish. Those two bad starts really hurt Barcia’s chances for a podium and he would take home fth overall by way of 5-5 moto scores. Not being able to battle with the leaders certainly frustrated Barcia and he will surely be practicing his starts before our next round at Washougal.
20 GRITMOTO • JULY 22, 2018