JDR/J-Star/KTM St. Louis Recap

St. Louis, MO – JDR/J-Star/KTM rider Malcolm Stewart managed to race from outside the top ten to pass up to 7^th overall at the third round of the AMA East Supercross Lites Series held at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. His teammate, PJ Larsen, suffered a crash at the tail end of the race that ended his night. Although uninjured, he was unable to finish the race and was credited with 17^th.

The two teammates were placed in the opening heat of the Lites Supercross class. Larsen rocketed his KTM to a great start rounding the first corner in 3^rd while Stewart had a worse beginning colliding with a rider off the start and coming from the end of the pack to around 10^th place at the end of lap one. Larsen made a few minor mistakes but was able to hang on for a 5^th place finish matching his best heat race finish of the season while Stewart fought his way up into qualifying position to finish 7^th.

Both riders suffered from poor starts as the gate dropped for the main event. At the end of the first lap Larsen was sitting in 10^th with Stewart directly behind him in 11^th. The next lap, Larsen came together with Blake Baggett. Although neither rider went down, the contact smashed Larsen’s shifter in and he was unable to shift for the remainder of the race. “When I made contact with Baggett, my shifter bent in and I was stuck in 3^rd gear. It was a struggle from there,” remarked Larsen. With three laps to go, Larsen was making a pass for 13^th when another rider jumped into him causing him to crash, ending his night. He was credited with 17^th. Meanwhile, his teammate had moved into the top ten and had begun to climb up in position. At the end of the fifteen laps Stewart had worked his way into 7^th place for a decent end to a hard fought night.

Next Event: Daytona Supercross – March 10, 2012

Overall Results – East Supercross Lites Class

1. Justin Barcia
2. Ken Roczen – KTM
3. Blake Wharton
4. Darryn Durham
5. Justin Bogle
6. Jake Canada
7. Malcolm Stewart – KTM
8. Kyle Cunningham
9. Blake Baggett
10. Alex Martin
11. Matt Lemoine
12. Hunter Hewitt
13. Cole Thompson
14. AJ Catanzaro – KTM
15. Jeff Gibson
16. Austin Politelli
17. PJ Larsen – KTM
18. Brad Ripple
19. Phil Nicoletti
20. Tyler Bowers