For this week’s Yamaha Motor Canada Behind the Lens, we go back to Saturday night in Las Vegas. As we all know, the 2017 Monster Energy Cup took place at Sam Boyd Stadium where Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin won all three main events and the one million dollars that went with it. In the seven years that this event has been taking place, the million dollar prize has only been won once before when Ryan Villopoto accomplished the feat. We’ve seen a few riders come very close over the past few years, only to crash out in the third and final main event. Winning the first two main events appear to be the easy part of the journey to a million bucks, it’s the third race that gives the riders problems.
Although I’m not a big fan of Musquin’s unorthodox riding style, I was definitely impressed with the way he rode in Vegas this past weekend. He was fast, smooth, confident, and obviously more prepared than any other rider in the field. The moment that most impressed me, and it is captured perfectly in this Frank Hoppen photo, was the great start that Musquin was able to get in the final main event. With so much pressure and expectation, Musquin was able to gather his thoughts, time the gate perfectly, and get one of the most important holeshots of his career. From there he rode smooth, stayed out of trouble and took home the win. Is this a sign of things to come in 2018? With the amount of confidence that Musquin appears to have in his riding and program, and a new and improved 2018 KTM450 under him, I’m sure no one would be surprised if he came out swinging at Anaheim 1.