Page 42 - ISSUE78

JUSTIN BARCIA
450 MX / 5TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> 2018 has been Justin Barcia’s year of resurgence. He has struggled mightily over the past few years and even seriously considered retirement late last winter after failing to nd a ride. Fast forward several months and he is now a weekly threat for not only podiums, but race wins as well. He proved his worth on a ll-In ride with Monster Energy Factory Yamaha during Supercross and they kept him on the team here in the outdoors and it has paid dividends. He has led many laps and he only has one overall nish outside the top ve and that one was a sixth. He has been ultra-consistent which has been one of his weaknesses during his career, but he has certainly put in the work to help x that. After some strong performances in the mud at his home race at Unadilla last weekend, Barcia was ready to keep things moving at the penultimate round at Budds Creek. Barcia was his usual aggressive self in the morning qualifying practice sessions. Bam Bam Barcia as his fans like to call him threw down the fourth fastest lap time of the class and was primed to do battle in the motos that lay just ahead. Barcia kicked off his day of racing by getting out to a great start.
He came out of the rst turn in third and positioned himself right behind the two leaders, Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin. Barcia kept things interesting and battled early with the top two guys but slowly faded off their pace. He was still riding a great race and rmly established himself in third. Barcia did a great job of holding the spot down until Eli Tomac came knocking in the second half of the race. These two guys and their aggressive styles put on quite a display for a few laps. Their battle raged hard, but it would be Tomac who would take over third with just a handful of laps to go. Barcia must have given everything he had during that battle because during the last few laps, he fell off a bit and would get gobbled up by Jason Anderson and then Blake Baggett on the nal lap. Barcia would end up sixth. Certainly not how he would have liked the moto to end but he had one more to go. Barcia go another great start in the second moto this time coming out of lap one in second place right on Musquin’s rear wheel. You could sense Barcia really wanted to get out front and try to run away but he just could not pass him. He tried everything during the rst few laps in a battle that saw both riders squaring each other up and getting alongside each other but Barcia couldn’t get the job done. This allowed Roczen to pull up on him and make a pass after a small battle on lap four. Shortly after falling back to third, Barcia would get run up on by both Baggett and Tomac. These three riders would put on a fantastic battle. The three of them passed each other countless numbers of times
and at one point, in signature Bam Bam fashion, Barcia bumped Baggett of the course. A few laps into the battle, Barcia had actually established a foot hold and stopped the pressure from behind but as soon as that happened, he pushed his front end too hard into a corner and would go down. Both Baggett and Tomac would pass him along with Phil Nicoletti and send him back to sixth. Barcia spent the remainder of the moto tracking down Nicoletti and with two laps to go, he nally got close enough to try and pass. The two riders duked it out and it was surprising because despite the rough and hot conditions, they looked as fresh and energetic as ever in the heat of the battle. They went back and forth but on the nal lap, Barcia would make a pass stick and he would nish there in fth. His 6-5 moto scores would earn him fth overall. It was a solid day for Barcia who showed some great ght and speed.
42 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 19, 2018