MXHeaven Race Report: Pala
Perris, CA. The Pala track with it's ultra fast straights and huge jumps was another new experience for the Swedish Riders on the MXHeaven Team.
It took its toll already in practice when Calle Aspegren crashed hard enough that he was ordered to sit out the day by the medical team.
And new team member Sara Pettersson along with the majority of the other competitors in her class, found it particularly difficult to clear some of the doubles and triples on a regular basis and often chose caution before bravery.
Not being quite happy with his 28th qualifying spot, Fredrik Noren was ready to show what he could do in the first moto. After a start around 20th place, he advanced quickly to 14th and had more riders in his sight when he was slowed by cramp in his arms and had to give up most of what he had fought hard for and ended up in 17th place at the finish.
The second race started similar to the first. After a good start he was riding agressively, but while fighting for 14th place he collided with another rider and was stuck under his bike for a short while. Once he freed himself he started all over again, but ran out of laps and ended up in 18th place this time.
"It was unfortunate that Calle could not race with us today," said Fred after the race. "The series has been both fun, challenging and educational for us at the same time. As we had hoped, we qualified for every race except today and we both often scored solidly in the points, finishing 26th and 36th respectively overall for the series."
The tracks, the MX Sports organization and Team MXHeaven have been just fantastic, everybody have been friendly and helpful. It has been a great experience for us and we hope to be back soon."
In only her second race ever in the AMA Nationals, new Team member Sara Pettersson wanted to prove a point on her MXHeaven KTM.
In her first moto she was fighting to get into the top 10 when a high speed wobble over the famous Pala whoops threw her over the bars. She collected herself and finished the race, but was awarded a dissappointing 22nd place out of the 27 starters.
For the second moto she was stiff and sore and rode to a cautious 15th place for a 17th overall.
"The fast track and the big jumps made it into a new challenge for me," said Sara as she reflected on the results after the race. "I hope to be able to stay and practice at MXHeaven before I return home to Sweden and I really hope I can come back at a later time and race again in America".
About MXHeaven:
In addition to the Motocross Racing Team, MXHeaven is the premier Motocross Holiday facility in California and is also offering a 2 or 4 year college / motocross program, where students study at a local college in the mornings and ride and train under MXHeaven supervision in the afternoons.
www.mxheaven-usa.com
MXHeaven Team Sponsors:
GOLDfren brakes, Troy Lee Designs, X-Brand, Wiseco, NoToil, Yoshimura, Works Connection, Dunlop, MTA, BelRay, K&N, Fluidyne Radiators, FactoryEffex, Renthal, Acerbis, Gaerne, AME Grips, RK Excel.