Pourcel East Coast SX Champion

Courtesy of Pro Circuit Racing
Corona, Calif. (April 11, 2010) – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel locked up his second straight AMA Supercross Lites Eastern Region Championship at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Pourcel raced to his fifth win of the season and scored enough points to claim the No. 1 plate while his teammate Dean Wilson crashed on the last lap while trying to make a pass for second, finishing ninth.

Pourcel has two races remaining in his remarkable AMA Supercross Lites career. There is the East Coast finale next week in St. Louis and the Dave Coombs Memorial East-West Shootout in Las Vegas on May 8. In his SX Lites career, Pourcel has 12 wins in 19 starts.

“I normally don’t think about the championship at the races, I just want to put in a good race,” said Pourcel. “I am really happy that I was able to wrap it up early, but next week I still want to go out with a win.”

Pourcel set the fastest time in qualifying practice for the seventh straight week more than a half-second ahead of his nearest competitor. It was Wilson who was second, a tenth faster than third place. In the Heat races, Pourcel earned another win while Wilson overcame a tough start to finish second.

In the main event Pourcel led wire to wire after getting out of the starting gate in a good position. Wilson was fourth after the first lap but then made the move to a podium spot on the second lap. The Canadian rider kept pushing trying to move up to second throughout the race and on the final lap he went down in the whoops section. Wilson saw an opportunity to make the pass but a small mistake cost him a spot on the podium.

“I was so disappointed that I made that mistake,” said Wilson. “I know everyone makes mistakes, but that one hurt a little bit. I really wanted to be on the podium. Next week I want to finish with my best result.”

The AMA Supercross Lites Eastern Region season will wrap up next week at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.Was this post helpful? Add yours to our service or subscribe to our feed above.

DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha - Houston

Courtesy of  DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha
Houston, TX - The AMA Supercross series went to the mid west over the weekend, visiting Houston, Texas’ Reliant Stadium. DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha attended with high hopes for their lone East coast representative by the name of #577 Martin Davalos. The day started out fairly well for Yamaha backed rider, who put down an impressive lap time as 4th fastest in timed qualifying.

Slated into Heat #1, Davalos had been feeling confident all day and it showed when he reeled off a great start and settled into the 2nd spot. Immediately, Davalos started to apply pressure to the race leader with raw speed, and even nearly took the race lead for a brief moment. After filing back into the 2nd position following a few mistakes, Davalos regained his composure and had some luck on his side for sure. As mid way through the race the leader washed out his front wheel, and right there to capitalize was the #577 machine. Riding much more solidly as of late, Davalos rode on to a brilliant Heat race win.

When the gate dropped in the main event, this time Davalos was forced to sneak around the inside of the first turn in order to come out near the front of the field. Holding down 7th on lap one, Davalos wasted no time in getting out front and inside the top five. Racing with the lead group, Martin was once again establishing himself as a contender by holding his own and challenging for the 4th place position. Lap eight saw a minor setback after he missed his timing in a rhythm section, causing a slip of one spot to 6th. Not backing down one bit; he began to put his fitness to use and with only a handful of laps remaining until the checkers Davalos continued with lots of effort. Just for that he was graced with another touch of luck, when the third place rider took a soil sample on the final lap handing Davalos a stellar finish of 5th.

Star Racing thanks the following companies for their commitment.
DNA Shred Stix, Division 7, Yamaha Motor Corp, FLY Racing, DNA Energy, NCY, Bell Helmets, Easton ExP, FMF, Sunstar, Factory Effex, Dunlop, Enzo, DC Shoes, RK Chains, Yamalube, GYTR, Ride Engineering, Mechanix Wear, Twin Air, Lightspeed, ARC, Braking, Vortex Ignitions, CP pistons, Web Cams, ICW, JD Built, Renegade Fuels, Crank Works, Eibach, EVOMX fuel foam, Met Tec, Champion Tools.Was this post helpful? Add yours to our service or subscribe to our feed above.

HOT Houston Race Recap

Courtesy of h.o.t.

There was a great turnout of fans at this weeks venue, Reliant Stadium, and the track conditions and layout would inevitably lead to some great racing.

Heat 1:
When the gate dropped for Heat #1, Honda of Troy was at the front of the pack racing for positions. Sean Lipanovich pulled one of his patented great starts (2nd) and settled into 4th at the end of lap one, while Levi Kilbarger followed suit and was battling for a top 6 position himself. On lap 2, Kilbarger had a miscue in the long table top rhythm section that sent the #412 tumbling. This put him out of the race and into the LCQ. #505 Lipanovich put together a great ride constantly under pressure which netted him some great television coverage and made his transfer directly into the main with a 7th.

Heat 2:
The Houston dirt provided great traction and this allowed the Eleven 10 Mods horsepower to shine. When Willard looked to his left he found Pourcel and when he looked to his right he found Sipes- two of the quickest qualifiers of the timed practice- and when the gate dropped the #92 rocketed out to the front of the pack. Willard nabbed the holeshot and established the lead. Willard put up a great fight with Poucel but gave up the lead on lap 2. Michael was under heavy fire for the entire heat but put in a valiant effort and qualified a solid 5th.

The LCQ start was no different - #412 Kilbarger took the lead from the pack and began to pull away just a bit. Levi held on to the #1 spot for 3 ¾ laps when a slight mistake and a wide line left the door open for Kyle Cunningham. On the next turn, 30 yards from the finish line, Tevin Tapia tried a kamikaze maneuver that would claim himself and Kilbarger, taking them both out of the race and allowing Troy Adams a spot in the Main.

Main Event:
The Guys starts in the main left a little to be desired and they were going to have their work cut out for them. Lipanovich was about midpack, 12th or so and Willard was bringing up the rear in 20th. The main wore on and the competition was fierce. Willard was able to work his way forward trying the entire moto to catch Troy Adams, who is a few points in front of him in the overall points. Lipanovich encountered a few minor issues that stifled his progress. Willard finished an eventual 12th and Lipanovich held on to the 18th spot in the main.

Overall for the season Willard sits 6 points outside of the top 10 in 11th. That is his goal in St Louis, to secure a top 10 overall for the season. Kilbarger has made every main event this season until this weekend and no doubt he will come to do battle in St Louis. He consistently learns from him track encounters and this one will be not different. Lipanovich brings more to the table each and every week and he picks up speed with every second on the race track. #36 of Durham is still on the mend with a slight shoulder injury and the team is unsure he will be racing the St. Louis or sitting it out to continue healing for the upcoming outdoors.

The Honda of Troy/Kilbarger Racing Team would like to acknowledge the sponsors who make this effort possible.
Honda of Troy, Kilbarger Racing LLC, Eleven 10 Mods, WAR - We All Ride, Fox Racing Shox, Cycra Racing, Motorex, TAG Metals, Yoshimura, Motion Pro, Renegade Race Fuel, Faction Mx, N-Style, Dunlop, DP Brake Pads, QTM, G2 Ergonomics, ARC, Boyesen, Light Speed, Hinson, RK/Excel, Ride Eng., Hammerhead, Straight Shot Air Filters, Bell Helmets, Hot Hedz Designs, Von Zipper, Total Image AutoSport, Kicker, ICW, Rock’s Racing Services, Injectioneering, IMS Foot Pegs, Franklin Equipment, and Gabriel Logan 
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DUNGEY RETAINS LEAD AFTER HOUSTON SX STALL

Courtesy of Suzuki
Team Suzuki Press Office - April 11.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey raced back to fifth place after stalling his bike in the Houston round of the AMA/ FIM Supercross series on Saturday night - but still heads the series by 12 points.

The Florida rider lost his footing as he challenged Ivan Tedesco for third place and dropped back to seventh in the 20-lap Main Event, but fought back two more places in the remaining laps.

The day didn't go as the team planned in either the Supercross or East Coast Lites Main Events, with Austin Stroupe separating his shoulder in practice before his class race.

Stroupe has been consistently-smooth and in control of his RM-Z250 in 2010. The bike was dialed-in after the first practice on Saturday and was soaking up the busy track, but an unfortunate incident in the second practice on Saturday afternoon had Stroupe visiting the Asterisk Mobile Medical unit. "Austin is going to go back to North Carolina to get his shoulder looked at by his doctor," Team Manager Roger DeCoster said. "The injury is an AC separation of the second degree. He'll be out next week, and probably out for the rest of the Supercross season. He has an appointment on Monday, and we'll find out more then. It was a tough day with Austin getting hurt first and then with Ryan we had an off day."

Dungey went into the Main Event with a convincing Heat 2 win and the fastest lap in practice. With a few tweaks on his suspension to fine-tune his RM-Z450, he lined up on the starting gate looking to extend his lead in the Supercross class: He has won four rounds so far in 2010 and he looked confident in his ability to race well on the dirt in Reliant Stadium. After the first corner, Dungey found himself in third place. He and his bike worked hard to overcome the deep whoops and traded spots with a few racers throughout the first half of the race. At the midway point, just as he was about to catch and pass the third place rider, Dungey stalled his bike in a complicated turn. Stuck in the whooped-out corner as a few racers passed him, Dungey managed to restart his bike and move himself into fifth place where he finished the race. "Some tracks favour you more than others, and some tracks you have to adapt to when things aren't working," Dungey said after the race. "I stalled it in the middle of the race, but overall I'm all right with tonight. We'll get out of here still holding onto the lead and I'll learn from tonight and move on."

Said DeCoster: "I think Ryan rode a little too cautious today, and once you become too cautious you get out of sync. It's almost worse than being too aggressive because you make more mistakes when you don't ride your ideal race. Also, we didn't hit the setting on the bike the way we should have. We would've been third most likely, but Ryan stalled the engine once and we ended up way back in fifth and gave up some points. We need to go back to work and come back in St. Louis. We'll work it out this week and I think we can turn it around."

Results: 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki); 2. Kevin Windham (Honda); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha); 4. Chad Reed (Kawasaki); 5. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 6. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki); 7. Davi Millsaps (Honda); 8. Andrew Short (Honda); 9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha); 10. Josh Hill (Yamaha).

Championship Points (after 13 rounds): CLICK HERE

Results: 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki); 2. Kevin Windham (Honda); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha); 4. Chad Reed (Kawasaki); 5. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 6. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki); 7. Davi Millsaps (Honda); 8. Andrew Short (Honda); 9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha); 10. Josh Hill (Yamaha).
 

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