Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Pleased With Austin Stroupe

Stroupe opens his pro Monster Energy Supercross career with a solid 5th place overall finish in the AMA Supercross Lites class

CORONA, Calif., (Jan. 7, 2008) – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe unleashed signs of the beast this past weekend, battling some of the world’s best Lites class racers to a top five position at the opening round of the 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, an FIM World Championship, at Anaheim’s (Calif.) Angels Stadium.

The race for Stroupe, his first-ever pro supercross race, was highlighted by an improvement from a 16th fastest practice time to 5th place finish in his heat race and 5th place finish in the Lites main event.

“I was pretty nervous before we got practice started, didn’t push it too hard getting to know the track, then managed to focus better once the gate dropped on my heat race,” said Stroupe. “The main went pretty well considering it was my first pro supercross ever. Wish I could have made the podium, but there’s plenty of time for that.”

In the main Stroupe actually pulled a near perfect start on this KX250F and came around after the first lap in 2nd place. A bobble on lap two allowed some of the more experience riders time and space to get past him, but Stroupe held strong and battled all the way through the checkers against the more experienced field.

Stroupe’s teammate, Brett Metcalfe, finished 19th overall.

Next up for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team is Round Two of 2008 Monster Energy Supercross at Phoenix’s Chase Field (Jan. 12).