Page 83 - MPG8DONE

theGRIT
The riders stay cramped together at the start of the first lap and Tonus is catapulted off his bike in
the whoop section and nearly lands on top of another wreck in front of him – he recovers quickly
despite the nasty wreck and attempts to gain back ground from fourteenth place. The Swiss rider drops further back in the third lap to nineteenth but by the final two laps Tonus begins moving in on Benny Bloss, trying to gain Bloss’ posi- tion of seventeenth place. Despite his hard charge he can’t quite claw his way back to a qualifying spot – sending him to the LCQ.
Tonus is bent on redeeming himself in the LCQ taking off like a rocket and wasting no time in stealing the lead from Albert- son. From here, Tonus would turn out flawless laps – continuing to pull away from the rest of the pack until taking the win and the top transfer spot.
The tension in the stadium was thick as the seconds ticked away toward the final 250 gate drop of the night. Months of training and waiting came down to this one moment as the fire cut through the tension-thick air like a knife. As the 250 riders exploded on to the clay, Tonus got squeezed into the massive bottleneck turn, after the first turn he held sixteenth place, but in the fourth lap he bursted through the pack into eleventh, catching up to Frye and passing Albertson. Here, he begins a battle with Frye while fending off Albert- son.. By lap seven, Tonus manages to get around Frye and move into the top ten with eight laps remaining. In lap eight, Tonus begins to juggle positions between twentieth, nineteenth and eighteenth – ultimately Tonus finishes nineteenth overall. Based on his electrify- ing performance in the LCQ, it’s likely that Tonus will come back next weekend stronger, and ever more determined.
words/ANNAGLENNON WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
83