TOM VIALLE GRIT-225 250MX

TOM VIALLE | GRIT-226 | 250MX

Arriving at a facility that was as similar to the MXGP circuit as any other on the AMA tour, France's Tom Vialle would be excited to compete within the premises of this legendary Massachusetts territory. Vialle had spent countless hours on layouts like these while in Europe, and proved within practice (gathering an overall position of sixth) that his speed was top-tier prior to embarking on the opening moto of the afternoon. As heart-rates would spike, and the pins of the starting gate(s) unlatched, it would be Vialle who burst from the grate with an unbreakable flow of aggression; battling with Jalek Swoll (for second) in the opening segments while looking to attack the rear wheel of Justin Cooper. He then made a quick move on the Floridian (i.e. Swoll) to decisively occupy the runner-up position, where he would do everything in his power to nullify the trajectory of Yamaha's Cooper, who led. Vialle was on fire throughout the roughest portions of the track, hopping amongst various braking bumps and rollers in a reminiscent pattern of former French standouts, such as Marvin Musquin and Christophe Pourcel. Vialle's persistence of throttle twisting would have him maintaining a second-place registry for well over twenty-minutes of action; until a mistake on behalf of Justin Cooper (with six minutes remaining on the clock), would have the Yamaha rider sliding to the ground...handing Vialle the lead! The KTM rider appeared more than comfortable when taking reign of the field, leading amongst the final laps of competition with confidence while storming to the checkered flag. He would eventually cross the finish-line double while being declared victorious, taking his first moto win of the season! His energy then translated into the second moto, where an astounding jump from the starting grate would send him to the lead around the first corner - as a definitive hole-shot put him well into the first place position while the rest of the pack would trail him. Completing the first five laps atop the leaderboard, he couldn't help but notice a persistent attack emerging from the Kawasaki of Jo Shimoda who remained behind him; seeking a multitude of lines in order to pass the number 128 machine. And as a climactic point of the moto would come to fruition, it was the number thirty who stormed around the dozed, outside berm before the finish-line - to make a definitive pass when landing from double as they began lap six. Now second, Vialle would reside here until around the tenth lap; when Justin Cooper would display a brilliant inside to outside pathway near the "Buckley Berm," and pushed the KTM athlete into a third-place residency. He would then attempt to track down the Yamaha rider once more (as Cooper would fall with under one minute remaining on the clock), but the margin between he and the first two riders would be just a tad too large to overcome. Despite all of that, however, Vialle's attrition within the third-place residency would be held and solidified as he crossed the finish-line; taking his first ever overall win, on American soil!

More from GRIT