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Speaking of momentum, Tickle’s prayers were answered as the team made progress in the form of a small step forward. The night started on a sour note with Tickle getting a less than impressive start in his
heat race, crossing lap one just outside of 9th. Quickly making the pass for the position, Broc worked into 8th by lap three but ran out of time in the short six lap battle finishing in 7th and decent gate pick for Semi #2. Taking charge of the inside line, Broc came out of the start in the semi in 2nd place, quickly losing the spot to New Jersey’s fastest 450 qualifier, Marvin Musquin. Passed by Eli Tomac a
lap later, Tickle was pushed back to 4th. Able to hold onto the position for the remaining three laps, Broc ensured the opportunity of building upon his previous rounds. As the air thickened and the night show drawing to the final race of the evening, every racer twitched and revved until finally the 30 second board was sideways. In the blink of an eye all twenty-one riders were within, what seemed to be, an arm’s reach and Tickle found himself executing his best start of the round. Heading into the first rhythm in 5th, allowing Dungey by over the first couple
of obstacles to drop to 6th. By lap two, Broc was passed by Tomac falling to 7th and 8th by lap three with Bogle getting by too easy. There,
a trend started with Tickle being pushed further back due to a pass by Peick on lap 4 and Canard on lap five, forcing Tickle to find himself in 10th. While the fans at MetLife watched on, it wasn’t that Tickle was making mistakes, it’s just that, at this point in the season, homeboys are charging, taking names and filling race lanes to pick up spot after spot. Soon after Canard, Jason Anderson was putting on a show to get by Broc by the start of lap 6. From there, with Broc now in 11th, it was obvious he was heading in the wrong direction with both Musquin gaining bike lengths to make the move on lap 9, pushing the #20 bike back to 12th where he would settle for six laps. Finally finding a resting place, Broc began to feel the pressure from Baggett, who sat back in 13th. The two remained toe-to-toe for a few laps before the new #4 put in a move on lap 15 to slide around Tickle. Dropping a total of eight positions from start to finish, it would be easy to call the night a failure but, with the best finish since A1 being a 13th for Broc and his RMZ 450, there’s absolutely no reason to not see this as victory for RCH Suzuki, in addition to the actual victory of Ken Roczen in the last main event before the final race.
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