Division7/Star Racing/Yamaha New Orleans Report
The AMA Supercross Series put another round in the books by visiting New Orleans, LA Superdome and 36,754 fans for the first time in several seasons. Division 7/Star Racing/Yamaha backed, #41 Matt Lemoine, #159 Darryn Durham, and the #43 of Broc Tickle arrived with all intentions focused on putting themselves solidly inside the top ten. Feeling the effects from an unusual, yet nagging pain was Lemoine who was struck with a case of wisdom teeth that were in need of being extracted.
Making the most of his night was Durham, getting a good start to Heat #1 and laying down consistent laps helped the rookie tremendously. By moving to 2nd place on lap two, Darryn broke away and raced on to the finish unchallenged. Durham jumped out to a 10th place start at the beginning of Lites Supercross class main event. Wasting no time, Durham snatched up one position for the first five laps raising him to 5th. On lap ten Durham finally had reeled in the 4th place competitor, then followed it up with a nice setup move which allowed the overtaking. Holding his own, the youngster dug deep seeing him fight off the championship point’s leader for some time before washing the front end out. Able to remount unscathed, Durham still held the 5th position on the final lap but he wasn’t finding the much needed rhythm once at. Unable to do so, the Yamaha pilot lost one more spot, still though capturing a career best finish in 6th.
Tickle too is progressing in a good direction and racing himself into the condition he is accustomed to. Also slated into Heat #1, Tickle made the best out of a poor start and let things come his way. Avoiding the early race commotion, Broc found his way to a transfer position of 5th which drastically beat out his visit to the LCQ in the previous weekend’s race. When the main event got underway, Broc once again had to play damage control as he held 14th. A very patient first half of the race, Tickle stepped inside the top 10 on lap ten. Keeping up his pace with two laps to the finish, Broc was the benefactor of fallen riders allowing him to come away with his second 8th place in as many races.
Experiencing his share of misfortunes while racing, Lemoine did his best to overcome all obstacles. Joining his teammates in Heat #1, Lemoine held onto 3rd before tipping over. Now fighting up through the field, Matt made a pass into 8th with only two laps remaining. Unfortunately, a downed rider was in his path over a blind jump, which when upon landing he then clipped the riders legs on the takeoff of the next double jump. In return, he was sent over the bars and forced to race the LCQ. Although it wasn’t easy, Lemoine got himself to the second spot and fended off a last lap take out move to continue on to the main event grid. Lined up on the far outside, Matt salvaged a fair start to the main event. Completing lap one in 9th, two laps later he made pass to 8th and pushed to decrease a gap between him and the top five. After soldiering right until end, Lemoine went for a last lap pass on 7th that ended with him on the ground. A tough night of racing for the Texan, would be capped off with a 17th at the races conclusion.
Star Racing thanks our valued sponsors for their great assistance.
Division 7, Yamaha Motor Corp, No Fear, No Fear Energy, NCY , Bell, Easton, Fox Shocks, FMF, Smith, N-Style, Dunlop, Enzo, Vortex sprockets, DID, Yamalube, Ogio, Ride Engineering, Mechanix Wear, Twin Air, Lightspeed, ARC, Braking, MSD Ignitions, Cycra, CP pistons, Web Cams, ICW, JD Built, VP Gas, Orbea bicycles, Crank Works, Eibach, EVOMX fuel foam.
