Larsen Finishes 8th at Indianapolis Supercross

JDR/J-Star/KTM rider PJ Larsen earned 8^th overall in the East Supercross Lites class at the Indianapolis Supercross held at the Lucas Oil Stadium. His teammate, Tye Simmonds, finished 16^th overall in the Supercross class.

The night started out horribly for Larsen who had a wreck on the first lap of his Lites Supercross Heat. “I came out 3^rd around the first turn and was sitting in a good position and the next thing I knew I was on the ground,” stated Larsen. “I have no idea exactly how I crashed I just remember seeing the air, hitting the ground and then being ran over a few times in the second corner.” Larsen and his bike were a little banged up after that crash and he did not finish the heat race.

Larsen was forced to go to the LCQ where he got a poor start. He quickly moved up through the pack to move into 2^nd place. He finished in that spot taking the final transfer spot to the main. “I was lucky I was able to move through the pack quickly in the LCQ. It was a bit of a bar-banging race but in the end I was able to make it to the main event.”

When the gate dropped for the Lites main, Larsen put together a great start and was within the top five as they entered the first turn before getting pushed wide resulting in a 7^th place position at the exit of the turn. Larsen remained in 7^th through the remainder of the first lap before jumping up to 6^th place after Hunter Hewitt crashed on lap two. Near the middle of the moto, Larsen began to tire slightly as he has been fighting a stomach virus lately. He dropped two positions to Blake Wharton and Dean Wilson.  He held 8^th place from the tenth lap through the finish to earn a top ten result.

In the Supercross class, Simmonds was able to put in a solid heat race performance finishing 6^th overall. “My heat went really well. I nearly grabbed the holeshot except my tire washed slightly and I went wider than I should have in the first turn,” commented Simmonds. He came through the first lap mark in 6^th and maintained that position throughout the entire heat.

In the Supercross main event, Simmonds was able to get a mid-pack start and sat in 12^th around the first corner. A few corners into the race, a rider crossed in front of him off a jump sending Simmonds to the ground. When Simmonds recovered he had lost a lot of time and was sitting in last position. He spent the first few laps of the race catching up to the tail end of the pack and was not able to make his first pass until part way into the moto. He eventually worked his way up to 16^th where he finished for the night.

Next Event: Jacksonville, FL – March 19, 2011

 

Overall Results SX Lites –

1)    Ryan Sipes

2)    Justin Barcia

3)    Blake Baggett

4)    Malcolm Stewart

5)    Matt Lemoine

6)    Dean Wilson

7)    Blake Wharton

8)    PJ Larsen – KTM

9)    Alex Martin

10)Les Smith

11)Gannon Audette

12)Brad Ripple

13)Taylor Futrell

14)Ricky Renner – KTM

15)Michael Akaydin

16)Nico Izzi

17)Tyler Sjoberg

18)Jason Anderson

19)Shawn Rife

20)Hunter Hewitt

 

Overall Results SX Class –

1)    Ryan Villopoto

2)    James Stewart

3)    Chad Reed

4)    Ryan Dungey

5)    Justin Brayton

6)    Trey Canard

7)    Kevin Windham

8)    Nick Wey

9)    Cole Seely

10)Mike Alessi – KTM

11)David Millsaps

12)Matt Boni

13)Michael Byrne

14)Fabien Izoird

15)Matthew Goreke

16)Tye Simmonds – KTM

17)Bobby Kiniry

18)Chris Blose

19)Ivan Tedesco

20)Andrew Short – KTM

 

Overall Point Standings SX Lites Class –

1)    Justin Barcia – 91

2)    Blake Baggett – 85

3)    Ryan Sipes – 79

4)    Dean Wilson – 75

5)    Blake Wharton – 65

6)    Malcolm Stewart – 52

7)    Matt Lemoine – 51

8)    PJ Larsen – 46

9)    Jason Anderson – 44

10)  Alex Martin – 40

 

Overall Point Standings SX Class –

1)    Ryan Villopoto – 221

2)    James Stewart – 195

3)    Chad Reed – 192

4)    Ryan Dungey – 183

5)    Trey Canard – 169

6)    Andrew Short – 129

7)    Justin Brayton – 121

8)    David Millsaps – 114

9)    Brett Metcalfe – 107

10)  Kevin Windham – 103