Brayton Lands on Podium at Phoenix SX

January 12, 2009, 9:45am

Phoenix, AZ – Justin Brayton earned his best-ever Supercross finish at the second round of the AMA Supercross Series at Chase Field with a second place result for the Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM Factory Racing Team. His teammate, Ryan Sipes, also threw in a decent finish earning seventh overall.

Both riders started the night well easily qualifying into the main event. Sipes finished third in Heat #1 while Brayton came in second in Heat #2. Also qualifying for the second weekend in a row was KTM support rider Michael Sleeter.

The main event was full of action as both Brayton and Sipes did not get the great starts they wanted and were forced to start picking off riders from the beginning. Brayton impressively moved into fifth after the first few turns while Sipes race began from his twelfth place start. Brayton moved quickly to fourth on the third lap of the main after blitzing by PJ Larsen in the second whoop section. He soon picked off another rider and by lap four was running in third. Meanwhile, Sipes was busy pushing his way through the pack breaking into the top ten by lap five.

On lap six, Brayton moved into second after passing the fallen Jake Weimer in the sand section. Brayton rode a strong race holding off both Ryan Morais and his teammate Weimer for the remaining laps. When the checkered flag flew Brayton pumped his fist and crossed the finish line in second behind event winner Ryan Dungey. After an incredible climb through the pack, Sipes would secure a hard-fought seventh place finish. KTM support rider, Sleeter, finished 15th.

“I’ve been working so hard for this podium finish,” remarked Brayton on the podium. “KTM has had my back for a few years now and I am happy to finally get this finish for them. My patience finally paid off and I am really happy with my finish and look forward to the rest of this season.”

In addition to Brayton’s podium finish, the Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM crew had more to celebrate when Brayton’s mechanic, Rich Simmons, was awarded with the MMI Top Tech Award after the Lites Main Event. The Jagermeister/KTM Freestyle Show also returned to the second round of Supercross and received one of the loudest cheers from the crowd all night after all four riders pulled back flips one after another for their finale.

The Jagermeister/MDK/KTM 450 Racing Team of Josh Summey and Travis Preston put on a good show for the packed Phoenix crowd with both riders easily qualifying for the main event. Summey finished his heat in third place after a remarkable ride holding off Ivan Tedesco, Tim Ferry and Josh Hill. Preston qualified in the same heat in ninth position.

In the Supercross main, both Jagermeister/MDK/KTM riders had mid-pack starts which forced them to battle quickly to move toward the front of the pack. Summey worked his way up as high as ninth place but would eventually finish twelfth for the night after a couple mistakes set him back. Preston worked from seventeenth to fourteenth for the evening.

Overall Results Supercross Lites –

Ryan Dungey
Justin Brayton – KTM
Ryan Morais
Jake Weimer
Chris Blose
PJ Larsen
Ryan Sipes – KTM
Cedric Soubeyras
Ben Evans
Dan Reardon
Cole Seely
Adam Chatfield
Eric McCrummen
Shaun Skinner
Michael Sleeter – KTM
Alex Martin
Topher Ingalls
Michael Blose
Daniel Hendrix
Ryan Clark

Overall Points Supercross Lites –

Ryan Dungey – 45
Jake Weimer – 43
Ryan Morais – 42
Justin Brayton – 36
Chris Blose – 34
Ryan Sipes – 29
Ben Evans – 24
Cedric Soubeyras – 18
Adam Chatfield – 17
Jason Lawrence – 16

Overall Results Supercross –

Overall Points Supercross –

Josh Grant – 45
Chad Reed – 42
Andrew Short – 38
Ivan Tedesco – 33
Tim Ferry – 30
Ryan Villopoto – 30
James Stewart – 27
Kevin Windham – 21
Davi Millsaps – 20
Mike Alessi – 20

16) Josh Summey – 10
20) Travis Preston – 7