Star Racing Round 5 Race Report

June 28, 2011, 9:20am

Lakewood, CO. (June 25, 2011) The AMA MX National Series rolled into the beautiful state of Colorado to attend round five at Thunder Valley MX Park. DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha continues to progress, fielding #25 Ryan Sipes, #35 Kyle Cunningham, #387 Gareth Swanepoel, #533 Gannon Audette, and #1 Jessica Patterson, as well as, #76 Kyle Partridge who is racing the 450. Heat combined with altitude once again brought new elements and possibilities. In timed qualifying Cunningham established himself as a factor by setting the 3^rdbest time leading into the event.

The big highlight came out of Swanepoel in moto one, coming out of the first turn in 6^th; he then began to apply some pressure to the competitors ahead on lap two. Riding at his best and moving into 5^th, Swanepoel continued to hold the pace of the leaders through the halfway mark which enabled him to capitalize on other competitor’s mistakes. At this point he showed strength by finding his lines and breaking away with the top five. With a handful of laps remaining, Swanepoel had slipped to 6th place, with better positions in his sights; he couldn’t capitalize as he still marched on to a 6^th place finish. Also in moto one, the rest of the Star squad all came out pretty well with Sipes riding strong from a start of 38^th to come in 15^th, and Audette finished out 16^th. Cunningham all but had a top five finish started early on running 4^th, but an electrical issue shifted him right out of the race.

In moto two, it was Sipes and who acquired a stellar start and continued on riding outstandingly through the race. Early on Sipes paced himself in 4^th, until lap three when he put on a sprint and took over 2^nd. Meanwhile, Cunningham who was taken down on lap one, raced up back into contention by the mid way point, and applied heavy pressure moving forward. Once Sipes filed back to 4^th to smooth out his pace, he worked to bridge the gap for a podium shot, he made several attempts causing him to lose some steam and have a need for regrouping. Fortunately, in the closing stages of the moto, Sipes and Cunningham kept it together, allowing them to net finishes in 4^th and 8^th. Also riding consistently, Swanepoel and Audette fell down early on, only to gather themselves late in the race and go on to notch in at 21^st and 33rd.

Results:

Moto 1 Moto 2 = Overall Finish

Ryan Sipes 15^th 4^th = 6^th

Gareth Swanepoel 6^th 21^st = 14^th

Kyle Cunningham 40^th 8^th = 16^th

Gannon Audette 16^th 33^rd = 20^th

The WMA series returned to action over the weekend, with Jessica Patterson picking up just where she left off. In moto one Patterson took the lead on the first lap and put her head down, having the confidence and team behind her took Jessica to a big lead and eventual win. Moto two went off under anticipation, grabbing the lead once again, Patterson rode off to yet another win to gain much needed points and kept the great season intact. This was a big win for JP$ because in the past she hasn’t had the best of finishes at this race.

Unfortunately our 450 pilot Kyle Partridge, crashed in moto one and rang his bell slightly. Further assessment determined he’d sit out the rest of the day and will return at the following round this weekend at Red Bud.

Star Racing is proudly supported by:

DNA Shred Stix, Yamaha Motor Corp, Scott Sports, N-Fab, FMF, Cosworth, Sycuan Casino, North County Yamaha, DNA Energy Drink, GYTR, Factory Effex, Dunlop, Easton EXP, Enzo, Renegade Fuels, Sunstar, Motion Pro, ARC, ODI Grips, RK Chains, Excel A60 rims, Yamalube, Ride Engineering, Twin Air, LightSpeed, Braking, Vortex Ignitions, ICW, JD Built, Crank Works, Eibach, Met Tec, Tammer MX