Star Racing Southwick Race Report

Courtesy of Star Racing
Southwick, MA. - The AMA MX National Series went into action over the weekend at Motocross 338 for the tenth round of the series. Being the toughest track of the year with its deep sand; it always results to be a true test of man and machinery. DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha was fielding top prospects of #25 Ryan Sipes, #35 Kyle Cunningham, #387 Gareth Swanepoel, #533 Gannon Audette, and #1 Jessica Patterson.

The big highlight came out of Swanepoel in moto one, taking the holeshot, he then settled into a strong pace and held the lead for five laps. Riding at his best and only dropping one position, 2nd Swanepoel held the pace of the leader through the halfway mark which enabled him to capitalize on other competitor’s mistakes. Lap eleven saw the Yamaha pilot takeover the 1st spot, and at this point he showed strength by finding his lines and breaking away. With three laps remaining, he not only increased his lead on 2nd place, but took control of the race and marched on to his first win and podium appearance. Moto two for Swanepoel was just as impressive, as a start of 7th was only a sign of good things. Moving up quickly and finding good form, Gareth took over 5th on lap one. Dicing it out, unfortunately he crashed in a deep sand turn on lap four, and that slated him back to 7th again. Never the one to settle, during the entire thirty minutes without any weakness, Swanepoel secured 5th place which gave him a very commendable 3rd overall.

Audette turned in the strongest performance of his young career by starting in 6th, and after a few great moments he battled right to the end, finishing 4th. Moto two panned out to be a much more trying event, on lap one Gannon found himself starting in 40th after being taken down in a pileup. Forging forward after remounting, put him into a mid pack position by the halfway mark, keeping with a great charge ahead; he’d settle netting 16th place in the moto.

Riding like he hadn’t missed a beat after suffering from low energy levels, in the first moto Sipes got out of the gate in 11th. From there, Sipes put down some solid laps early on, and took his #25 YZ 250F upward into 9th. As time counted down to midway point, Sipes raced his way up to the competitors holding 5th. Using any reserved energy he had, Sipes put in his best effort to snatch a higher placing, but in the end it was just out of reach and he’d finish out in 6th. When moto two came to existence, Sipes could be found in the 7th spot. Continuing the comeback, the focused kid tried to work in the same grand fashion as earlier. At the halfway point though Sipes began feeling ill possibly from swallowing sand, and eventually Sipes would pull off in the next few laps.

Also running was Cunningham who gave his all and put together an impressive first part of moto one by running 7th, but crashes kept him from finishing. Feeling battered and bruised, the team and Cunningham decided that sitting out of moto two, to heal up would be beneficial. On a bright note, Cunningham still holds 4th position in overall points.

Results:

Moto 1 Moto 2 = Overall Finish

Gareth Swanepoel 1st 5th = 3rd

Gannon Audette 4th 16th = 8th

Ryan Sipes 6th 35th = 14th

Kyle Cunningham 34th 37th = 37th

Also adding to the great race results, was Jessica Patterson our WMX pilot who had a devastating moto one, crashing on lap two led to her being unable to restart the bike and a finish of 27th. Moto two was business as usual and a steady performance of leading every lap for the win. However, Jessica’s going 27-1 gave her 6th overall.

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

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