Page 52 - ISSUE-47

JUSTIN BRAYTON
450 SX / 9TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / WILSON
>> Rummaging through the trek and turmoil of this elongated series, true battle-tested and enduring warriors look depleted, and are starving for care as their bodies have surpassed the breaking point of attrition. Bumps, scrapes, bruises, and blood-drawn, they are bandaged and repaired, stumbling into the final coliseum looking to go out on their shield with a quest for glory. It is the strongest that prevail, a Darwin theory that the fittest will survive, and rightfully so, as only a handful of riders are flocking to the gates, in comparison to those that were chomping at the bit to get on the line in Anaheim. Among those still standing? None other than Justin Brayton. Plowing through the weekends of hard-pack, sands, and eroded soils of the United States, the summary of miles he has logged has led him to Sam Boyd Stadium, here in Las Vegas, Nevada. He’s willing to saddle up one last time, giving a valiant effort as he always does, and putting a stamp on his 2017 agenda. Looking to charge from the moment he set foot on the stadium floor, he pushed through his group with the uttermost assertion. With the abnormally hot temperatures (reaching near 99 on Friday), the track had been baking for quite sometime, and the grounds crew’s watering antics made the layout a little slippery. Vying for that ever so precious 1:05 mark that was set early on in practice, the glossiness transitioned into the evening program, where he would pilot his ride through the qualifying portions, battling with the sports best, and put his 450 into the main event. As he handed his bike to his mechanic, he slowly walked forward into the brittle groove in which he had chosen, trying his best to pack a bit of outside soil into the bottom, stomping it down with the heel of his boot. He then rolled the 450 into the trench, and flipped “bombs away” on the ignition switch. He quickly jolted out of the gate, the field dive-bombing into the left-hander. The roar of 450’s echoing off the concrete walls, the fans on their feet; he man- aged to move with the pack through the opening sequences. After his tenth place qualifying posi- tion, he was launching three wide outside of the stadium, and doing his best to remain calm as the field reached it’s highest speeds of the season. Scrubbing the table-top outside the stadium, the pack began to funnel in as they took the opening flag. Fighting tooth and nail through these slick conditions, he was lugging his machine a gear tall as he hovered near the top half of the field. Clicking into third each lap, he would pivot the machine in the left handed bowl turn prior to the triple, swapping the bike from one side to the other, all the while landing in his optimum spot, with his right leg out. His meticulous effort would pay off, as he constantly reached for the eighth place of Davi Millsaps, lap after lap, but just couldn’t seem to come within its grasp. Looking to bring home a single digit finish for the season finale, he would cross the line in ninth, and looking forward to what the summer has to offer.
52 GRITMOTO • MAY 7, 2017