JUSTIN HILL | GRIT-218 | 450SX

JUSTIN HILL | GRIT-218 | SX 450

The opportunity to grasp a top-five overall was tangible and could be seen in the riding aptitude of Team Tedder's Justin Hill early in the Saturday morning hours. There was a business-like demeanor radiating from the persona of the Oregon native who scoured the track with intensity, looking for the subtle notches that were beginning to develop atop faces of varying angles; and could kick the chassis in a multitude of ways prior to lunging to the timing and scoring sensor(s). He was accelerating to the highest degree in the latter sessions of the morning hours, where the track maintenance crew would smoothen the outer berm of the sand section…and he could lean his KTM to a nearly forty-five degree angle while ceasing to relinquish his twisting of the throttle. This would carry into heat number one that followed, where time was crucial during this sprinting format of sorts. His execution of the first two laps would be imminent in sustaining a position of third, where he and Honda's Colt Nichols were within only seconds of one another before scrubbing the subtle double just ahead of the finish-line. The dirt was remaining tacky and beginning to carve multiple ruts in the corner before the dragon's back, where the former 250cc SX Champion (i.e. Hill) would upshift and attack the series of varying moguls thereafter with precision aboard the right side. Lap after lap, he would glance over his shoulder to monitor how close Nichols was tracking, all the while hoping to push his limits into the lines that laid ahead. This would lead to the white flag circuit, where an error-free final lap had to be intact…and that's exactly what was garnered, along with obtaining third-place before heading into the main event. As gates would fall and the field stormed into this distinct right-handed bend, there was little room for error as all on the track funneled into an immediate difficult rhythm section. He was immediately designated behind Eli Tomac after moving around Kevin Moranz early, and would hold the position of second for two laps, prior to being passed by Chase Sexton! Landing from the finish-line where he sought a rut through the middle portion of the following berm, he would maintain a constant eye on his adversaries in the paralleled left lane (which he'd just conquered) to monitor how fast he had to go in order to retain the aforementioned position(s) inside the top-three. The rhythm lane before the sand section had claimed numerous victims (to crashes) throughout the first eight laps of the finale, but he seemed to be on cue when throttling through into the whooped-out differing soil that was cast in the following right-handed bend; despite being passed by GasGas' Justin Barcia. With Ken Roczen and Colt Nichols just behind him, there would be a shuffling of sorts where he was passed by both of the aforementioned adversaries who trailed (after going off track when battling with Ken Roczen and a lapper, just after the elevated corner) while also inheriting a position of advancement on behalf of Justin Barcia's crash on the dragon's back. Reading cues from his mechanic while the gap over sixth was amplified, he would reassure himself that he could sustain this pace through the seventeenth and eighteenth minute(s) as lap traffic became a heavy component in the path to the checkered flag…and as all ceased, he would eventually claim a spectacular fifth-place residency; proving that he had the speed and talent, to reside at the front of the field amongst the world's best!

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