Musquin Earns 4th in Supercross Lites Debut

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Red Bull/KTM Factory Team rider Marvin Musquin earned 4^th overall at the opening round of the AMA West Supercross Lites Series which also served as his professional Supercross racing debut.

The Frenchman traveled to the US to race as a member of the Red Bull/KTM Team at the end of 2010 and was injured in an unfortunate accident during an international race which disabled him from competing at any of the Supercross rounds. After a full-year to recover, Musquin showed up at Angel Stadium both excited and nervous. “I am so happy to be racing here in the U.S.” remarked Musquin. “This has always been my dream and I can’t wait to actually race at this stadium in front of the sold out crowd.”

Musquin turned heads during the morning practice sessions when he turned the fastest lap time in the second practice and ended up 6^th fastest at the end of the final session. His qualifying time placed him in the second heat of the night.

Musquin rounded the first corner in 5^th in his heat and quickly moved into 4^th after passing Travis Baker before the end of the first lap. He continued to improve his pace and soon found himself in 3^rd position where he would finish and easily qualify into the main event.

Unfortunately, the 30-second board girl turned the board early during the Supercross Lites main event which caused many riders to engage their clutch for double the normal time which badly affected many riders starts. Musquin was one rider who mentioned the issue but he still managed to pull a near mid-pack start around 11^th place. He spent the next few laps catching and passing riders and was in 7^th place by the third lap.

Continuing his charge through the pack, Musquin picked off Ryan Sipes on the sixth lap to move into 6^th position. Wil Hahn crashed on the next lap to hand Musquin 5^th place. Musquin held that position through the remainder of the race until Dean Wilson crashed on the final lap allowing Musquin to again capitalize on the mistake and gain a position. Musquin went on to finish 4^th overall in his first U.S. Supercross Lites race.

“I am very happy tonight. I finally raced in my first Supercross event and I am happy with 4^th overall. I was lucky some of the riders made mistakes tonight but overall I felt really good and my bike was great,” remarked Musquin.

Next Event: Phoenix, AZ – January 14, 2012

Overall Results –

1. Cole Seely
2. Tyla Rattray
3. Eli Tomac
4. Marvin Musquin – KTM
5. Ryan Sipes
6. Dean Wilson
7. Jason Anderson
8. Wil Hahn
9. Zach Osborne
10. Travis Baker
11. Matt Moss – KTM
12. Nico Izzi
13. Teddy Maier
14. Billy Laninovich
15. Vince Friese
16. Max Anstie
17. Ryan Marmont – KTM
18. Jackson Richardson
19. Martin Davalos
20. Christian Craig