Star Racing Race Report: Jacksonville
In Heat #1, Audette jumped out to great start sitting in 3rd, but then ran it in way too hot into a turn, while trying to make a block pass. The intended result unfortunately wouldn’t work out, as Gannon crossed lines with another rider and was forced to the ground. Remounting in last place, Audette found himself trying to rebound to get inside of the top nine in order to avoid the LCQ. Setting some of the fastest lap times of the heat race, and making bold moves, Audette mounted a super charge from the rear of the field to grab 7th just before the checkers.
Heat #2 had our other Yamaha pilot lined up on the gate; Sipes managed to get a great start seeing him hold down a front running position coming around the awkward first turn. Sitting upfront for Sipes is where he’s most confident, as he had moved into 3rd and began applying pressure to the leaders. Sipes battled hard, and avoided making mistakes through the duration. In doing so, he was able to finish to a respectable 3rd place.
The main event got underway; Sipes starting in decent fashion, was able to creep around the outside of the first turn. Rounding lap one within the top five, Sipes maintained a pace that helped put him in the breakaway with the real contenders. Lap four saw big changes, as Sipes assumed 3rd and went on to pressure for a possible higher finish in the coming laps. From there, entering into the halfway mark, the race settled down with the top three hitting their marks and creating some small gaps. Heading towards the checkers, Sipes comfortably held 3rd and would go on to finish out there, completing the third straight weekend of standing on the podium. Meanwhile, Audette’s race was over before it really began, because of a pileup on lap one Gannon was unable to continue and forced to take a 19th place finish on the night.
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