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Benny Bloss was excruciatingly close to making his first career 450 main event last weekend in
Foxboro so he came into East Rutherford with a vengeance. In just his second race aboard his
BTO Sports KTM, Bloss qualified with a solid nineteenth fastest time ready to make the main.
Bloss did not get out to the best of starts in the heat race and that would cost him. AJ Catanzaro quickly moved by and bumped him back to eleventh place. But from there he would find his footing and charge back up to ninth place even making a move on veteran Jake Weimer showing he has some raw speed.
The semi would come with a better start for Bloss as he came around lap one in sixth place. He had a gap to make up on Vince Friese for the fifth and final transfer spot and got within striking distance with two to go. The two riders had themselves a great battle and Bloss would almost toss it away by nearly endoing off the dragon back but he quickly regained that ground in the whoops using his tall frame to his advantage. He finally made the move on Friese but Friese would retaliate in the final corner by slicing hard to the inside and bumping Bloss into the tuff blocks falling inches from the peak of the finish line jump. He would remain in sixth after the fall but was frustrated he had to test his luck in another LCQ.
Bloss did not want any trouble in the LCQ and you could tell right from the get go. He got a third place start and very quickly made moves to the front utilizing an excellent square up move on Nick Schmidt to take the lead on lap two. He would hold the lead the rest of the way en route to his first career 450 main.
A bad start in the main event would keep Bloss from showing his true potential, as he would get stuck in the back of the pack for the entirety of the race. He would end up finishing deep in nineteenth but has to be ecstatic that he was able to qualify. This young kid has some real speed and he has one more chance to showcase next weekend at the season finale in Las Vegas.
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