Page 50 - ISSUE78

BENNY BLOSS
450 MX / 8TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> 2018 has been a breakout year for Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Benny Bloss. The kid from Missouri ended his Supercross season with some big-time performances and he carried that right into the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season. He has shown some ashes
of brilliance outdoors in the past but this year he has harnessed those ashes and turned them into consistent performances. He kicked off the season with an impressive fth place in the second moto at Hangtown and that set the tone for the rest of the season thus far. The only two times he has nished outside the top ten overall is when he has suffered
a mechanical or a big crash. He has been consistent and even earned his rst career
moto podium with a third-place moto nish at Red Bud. With two rounds to go entering Budds Creek, he was ready to keep things rolling and nish the year strong. Bloss looked struggled a bit in the morning qualifying practice sessions. He was slightly further back than he has been and where he would like to be, but he still managed to notch the eleventh fastest lap time of the class. He knows his full potential and he was ready to go out and put together a solid pair of motos. Bloss started the rst moto of the day with a nice start. He rounded lap one in sixth place and was right on the heels of Phil Nicoletti. He held it down there for a few laps, but things changed in a ash when Eli Tomac and Blake Baggett ew by on lap three. He had nothing for those two guys and he got bumped back to eighth. In eighth, he began to feel some pressure from Cooper Webb. The two riders battled it out for the spot for a few laps, but it would be Webb who would come out on top. This slid Bloss back to ninth place where he would chisel himself out a nice gap. Bloss had no immediate threat from behind and would ride out the rest of the race in ninth where he would nish. Bloss did not get as good of a start in the second moto and this time would come around lap one in tenth. He made a quick move to pass Dylan Merriam in the early going before picking up where he left off in moto one, settling into ninth. He would have that position
on lockdown while running down the eighth-place rider, Weston Peick. He inched closer and closer during the rst half of the race and searched for ways around him. Bloss tried a plethora of lines before nally making the move at the halfway point. This set him up in eighth and he would hold the spot to the checkered ag. Bloss would nish the day going 9-8 for eighth overall. It was a good performance but not his best. He will look to return to his top form at our nal round in Indiana.
50 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 19, 2018