Page 137 - MPG DONE 7-final

theGRIT
Vince Friese was fast all day long in Arlington. He began the day secur-
ing a season best 9th fastest in qualifying practice. It was a great start to
the day for Friese and he was set to have a great night of racing.
Friese carried that season best speed from practice and used it to get the holeshot in his heat race. However his momentum from entering the first turn first ended up forcing him to get pushed out wide in the first rhythm section and he was quickly shuffled back to 5th. We have seen Friese in this position before and just assumed he would just be in for another trip to the semi but after the riders settled in, Friese started to pick up speed. He had to fend off Wil Hahn to keep his 5th place position early on but he quickly pulled away from him and went after Nicoletti for the final transfer. Friese had a few seconds between him and Nicoletti but he charged hard and made the pass to send him from the heat race straight to the main event. It was a strong, resilient ride from Friese who showed some impressive speed that we haven’t seen from him all year.
In the main event Friese was not able to get another one of his signature holeshots and would start the race in the middle of the pack. He started around 10th and was battling with the top fac- tory riders and actually moved up into 8th place. For the first time all year we saw Friese moving up through the pack instead of moving backwards. It was quite the impressive performance. But unfortunately disaster would strike and he would go down while fighting to stay in 8th. He would end up in 17th place. It was a horrible way to end his night but Friese has to be holding his head high as he showed some true top 10 speed. Look for him to build on that speed next weekend as the season heads to Atlanta.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
WWW.GRITMOTO.COM 137