Short Finishes 5th and Alessi 7th at Jacksonville

March 21, 2011 9:40am

Factory Red Bull/KTM riders Andrew Short and Mike Alessi put in impressive rides at the 11^th round of the AMA Supercross Series held in Jacksonville, FL with a 5^th place performance by Short and a 7^th place result for Alessi.

Both Red Bull/KTM riders had excellent heat races with both KTM 350 SX-F machines taking the holeshot in their heats. The #800 machine of Mike Alessi was up first in heat number one. He nailed the holeshot and took the early lead. He continued to lead for the first half of the race before he was passed on lap five. “I began to get arm pump on the fifth lap and fell off the pace a little bit,” remarked Alessi. “I was still happy to run up front for the time that I did and to finish 5^th overall in the heat.”

Andrew Short followed Alessi’s start strategy and grabbed the holeshot in his heat. He led James Stewart briefly on the first lap before dropping to 2^nd position. Short and Reed battled on the next two laps before Reed made the pass and Short settled into 3^rd. Once in 3^rd, Short hung tight to the spot and finished in that position to take a nice qualifying spot into the main event.

In the main event, Alessi duplicated his heat race start and pulled the holeshot around the first corner. Short was a few spots back in 6^th position. On the first lap, Alessi and Davi Millsaps came together and allowed Short to pass into 4^th. Short remained in 4^th through the first half of the race before Kevin Windham made a pass on the tenth lap. Short was able to ride a consistent race through the remaining laps to finish 5^th overall marking his sixth top five finish this season. Meanwhile, Alessi spent the majority of the race in 8^th position before closing in on Austin Stroupe with a few laps remaining. With one lap to go, Alessi was all over Stroupe. On the final corner he cut underneath Stroupe and made the pass just in time to cross the finish. That pass moved Alessi up to 7^th for the night marking his season best finish.

Next Event: Toronto Supercross – March 26, 2011

Overall Results Supercross Class –

1) Trey Canard

2) Chad Reed

3) Ryan Dungey

4) Kevin Windham

5) Andrew Short – KTM

6) Ivan Tedesco

7) Mike Alessi – KTM

8) Austin Stroupe

9) Nick Wey

10) Chris Blose