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Weston Peick went into the Easter Break with a pair of season best finishes and looked to keep that trend going as the series resumed in Santa Clara. The track was tight and quick in Levi’s Stadium and Peick would only be able to secure the twelfth quickest lap time in the qualifying sessions. His time was just off of where he would like to be but a good start would all he needed
to get his night jump-started.
Unfortunately, Peick would not get that start he needed to jump-start his night, as he would go down in the first turn of his heat race. After exiting lap one in the fifteenth position, it was clear he could not catch the top four so it meant he was onto the semi.
Peick would have a much better time in the semi than in the heat as he grabbed a decent start. He began making some moves on the difficult track and bullied his way into the top five for a transfer spot. He did not stop moving forward once he moved into fifth and made two more moves to get into third to give himself a slightly better gate pick for the main event.
The main event would see Peick get another decent start coming around lap one in a solid eighth place position. He was locked in that spot when he set his sights on Red Bull KTM rider Marvin Musquin and he made the move for seventh during lap five. Once into seventh, he looked to stay steady and not go down like he has all too often this season. As the race entered its final stages, Peick was still holding down a strong seventh when Eli Tomac began applying some serious pressure. And the pressure would end up being too much for him to handle, as Tomac would work by with just four laps to go. After getting passed, Peick settled into the eighth place spot where he would stay for the rest of the race. It was his third straight top ten finish and another confidence booster as he was able to keep it on two wheels that he struggled with early in the season. Look for him to keep this train rolling as he chugs back to the Midwest for Indianapolis.
words/SETHHARNISHFEGER
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