DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha Report: Hangtown
Rancho Cordova, CA -The AMA MX National Series got the twelve race championship underway at Sacramento, Ca at Hangtown MX Park this past Saturday. DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha attended with a huge presence, fielding our five rider team comprised of, #20 Broc Tickle, #48 Max Anstie, #341 Nico Izzi, #577 Martin Davalos and the WMA title threat #2 Jessica Patterson who will contend the entire women’s series for the team. Saturday’s timed qualifying started out promising with our ultra fast YZ 250F’s powering each rider to a fast lap time, the fastest being Tickle who obtained the 2nd gate pick for the opening moto.
Finding good form here early in the series, was Tickle who dug deep and took control of his outcome. The first moto was a trying one at that, Tickle started 10th, then after a few calculated moves near mid moto. Tickle had climbed the charts slightly, holding steady at 7th, he rallied to close the gap and make more advances. In doing so just past halfway Broc lost his wheels and crashed. Remounting in a distant 12th position, the always tough kid raced back up to 11th only to yet again take another soil sample. Dropping a spot one more time Tickle made up the ground needed, moving forward with only a few laps until the finish. Still charging in good fashion to snatch up a few tiring riders, he’d come up short as the moto concluded and was forced to settle in 11th. In moto two Tickle’s start panned out a little more to his liking, with him in 8th, however he kept on the pressure and passed for 7th fifteen minutes into the race. Right till the bitter end, Tickle looked to have a top five finish coming his way. As he rode at the tail end of a four rider freight train, he made smart moves on a section of the track where he excelled. Lots of persistence paid off, which allowed Broc to get into 5th inside of four laps to go. Not settling one iota, Tickle hounded the moto one winner, nearly passing him on several occasions, but he never got it done. When it was over, Broc came away with a 5th, netting him 7thoverall on the day.
Anstie had a good start to his first season of outdoors on a Yamaha, through his consistency he did fairly well but it was not where he would have liked to land on the results page. For the English rider moto one began with him in 11th, from there Anstie maintained his composure and put his head down. Impressively, in just six laps he gained two positions, and now sat in a solid 9th. In the closing stages Anstie had one bad bobble which cost him a few spots as he crossed the finish line in 12th. Anstie second part of his tally had him starting 19th; and that was after passing a slew of riders in lap one. By the halfway mark he had crept his way into 15th, riding solidly he maintained this position for most of the race and right at the end Max moved passed a fatigued rider, leaving him to a finish of 14th and a 11th overall.
The struggles of Davalos could be felt, starting 9th in moto one, the DNA backed rider could not find his usual contending speed after tightening up early on. Doing what he could all the while, one rider after another would shift him back through the moto. The embarrassing showing, only allowed Davalos to muster up a 16th finishing position. Moto two looked more promising, as he started 11th, and then moved to back a few spots into 14th. Racing with some passion, Davalos pushed hard and made it back to 11th where he’d finish out salvaging 20th overall.
In closing, Nico Izzi had a rough start to his outdoor series, starting off in 12th unfortunately on lap two he crashed and had trouble restarting the motorcycle. This resulted in a long moto for Nico, but he did comeback to 22nd. Moto two was a solid showing for Izzi, who is coming off injuries. With lap one in the books, once again he held 12th and maintained that position the entire moto. Izzi’s uneventful combined moto scores gave him an overall of 18th and gave him something to build on.
Holding the torch high for the team, Jessica Patterson went out and destroyed her competition in a convincing fashion. Starting out in 2nd, she made an awesome pass on lap two to go by her arch rival. From there, Patterson checked out and took the win. Moto two was all of the same but better as Patterson led every lap and took the overall win with a statement.
Star Racing extends a great deal of gratitude to our sponsors.
DNA Shred Stix, Division 7, Yamaha Motor Corp, FLY Racing, DNA Energy, NCY, Bell Helmets, Easton ExP, FMF, Sunstar, Factory Effex, Dunlop, Enzo, DC Shoes, RK Chains, Yamalube, GYTR, Ride Engineering, Mechanix Wear, Twin Air, Lightspeed, ARC, Braking, Vortex Ignitions, CP pistons, Web Cams, ICW, JD Built, Renegade Fuels, Crank Works, Eibach, EVOMX fuel foam, Met Tec, Champion Tools.