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Vince Friese struggled with the conditions throughout practice as he attempted to navigate the
treacherous conditions caused by the open stadium in Foxborough. He ended up putting his MotoConcepts Honda just inside the top 20, finding himself in 19th place after both timed qualifying sessions came to a close in Massachusetts. He’d have quite a bit of speed to find before the night show, ultimately ending practice approximately six seconds behind the defending Champion. Friese managed a decent start in his heat race, starting towards the front of the field and roughing up Blake Baggett in the second corner before the triple. He started the race just outside the top 5, but wasn’t able to hang with the pace of those at the front and slowly fell off as the race progressed until he found himself back in 11th place across the finish line. The second semi went a little bit better for Friese as he put himself out front in the opening rhythm section. He was lacking a bit of whoop speed over the weekend which was taken advantage of by Weston Peick, almost immediately, relegating Freise to 2nd place. Peick shot away at the front while Freise attempted to hold off Blake Baggett and Benny Bloss by drawing tight lines in every corner and riding a wide bike. He got passed by Bloss for a split second, but managed to repass him with a block pass after the finish line which allowed him to avoid the yard sale that Bloss and Baggett had later that lap in the whoops section. Broc Tickle was able to reel in Freise and pass him towards the end of race along with Justin Barcia, but all in all it was a solid display of defensive riding from Friese to put himself in the main event from the semi. Friese’s main event wasn’t indicative of the speed that he showed in the opening laps of his semi. He struggled with the start and came out in about 17th position, taking advantage of some carnage early on involving his teammate to move up to 13th in the opening laps of the race. This was as far forward as he made it as he struggled with the track conditions, eventually getting lapped twice by the leader Ken Roczen, and even running Dungey high in one of the bowl turns instead of getting out of the racing line. Friese will hope to take the positives from the race in Foxborough and improve upon them next weekend in New Jersey.
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