Houston SX Report: Team Violation1.com/Shea Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear

Violation1.com/Shea Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear

East Region riders Ricky Renner and Vernon McKiddie make

debut in Houston at Monster Energy AMA Supercross

Third East Region rider, Tevin Tapia, is on the mend after a broken and dislocated wrist

HOUSTON (February 15, 2011) –
Team Violation1.com/Shea Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear, powered by
Munn Racing KTM, participated in the first round of the East Region
Lites series of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World
Championship, this past Saturday in its hometown of Houston. This was
the debut of new team rider Ricky Renner and returning rider Vernon
McKiddie who competed in his first race on a KTM 250 SX-F.

Reliant
Stadium in Houston is up the road from Shea Racing’s shop. One of the
regular stops on the AMA Supercross tour, this round on Saturday,
February 12, featured a tough track with limited spots for passing. As
was true in all five previous rounds, the athletes competed in front of
a capacity crowd.

Team
Violation1.com/Shea Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear's Tevin Tapia
was not in attendance, as expected, to make his AMA Supercross Lites
East Region debut for the team. A few days prior to the race, Tapia of
Boney Lake, Wash., broke and dislocated his wrist while preparing for
the race. It is not yet clear when he will return to action.

Both
Renner of Lakeland, Fla. and McKiddie of Huffman, Texas qualified for
their first night program of the season on their KTM 250 SX-F race
bikes, outfitted with DR.D Ti/Carbon exhausts. That set the stage for
the heat races.

McKiddie
on his #129 KTM 250 SX-F was lined up for heat race one decked out in
his FLY Racing gear. During qualifying he had shaved more than two
seconds off his lap times. Set to go, McKiddie had a solid start.
During the six-lap heat he jockeyed for position, running as high as
ninth place, which would have been enough to transfer directly to the
main event, before he crashed. McKiddie rebounded and finished 13th at
the checkers. He would move on to the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ).

Renner,
who was in the top 15 in Supercross Lites qualifying, was ready for
action in heat two. On his #94 Munn Racing KTM 250 SX-F, motor breathed
by DT-1 Filters, he had a solid start as well. He got mired in traffic
on the difficult-to-pass-on track and finished 16th. Renner would head
to the LCQ too.

Renner
and McKiddie made minor bike set-up changes back in the Shea Racing
team pit and rolled to the line for the LCQ. The four-lap race is a
dash. Athletes have to ride their bikes like a bullet train to earn one
of the two transfer spots. Both Team Violation1.com/Shea
Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear riders experienced mediocre starts.
When the checkers flew, McKiddie crossed the line in eighth place.
Meanwhile, Renner had a more eventful race crashing with another rider.
Renner's arm landed on top of the other bike causing enough pain that
he could not finish the race. He suffered a few cuts and bruises though
he'll be ready for the next Supercross Lites East Region round in
Atlanta.

“Each
time we have a down weekend we learn something new to make
improvements,” said Tim Shea, team manager. “It all started with Tevin
[Tapia] being injured. Then, we were pumped when both our riders
improved their lap times in qualifying. Ricky [Renner] earned the 12th
quickest time, which was the best in our team’s history. The heats and
LCQ didn’t go exactly our way, though Vernon [McKiddie] showed in his
heat race he could compete for a transfer to the main. There is much
more racing ahead – seven rounds for our guys to improve. Our crew and
sponsors will do what we can to get them into the main. Ricky and
Vernon will have a weekend off to rest then in two weeks we go to the
Georgia Dome.”

Shea
continued, “We turn the page this weekend back to the West Region for
one more round before the East Region stretch. We’re excited for Casey
Hinson to continue his streak of transferring out of the heats directly
to the main, and make further improvement in his results this Saturday
in San Diego. It will be a one-rider show for us at Qualcomm Stadium
with Austin Howell recovering from injury until Seattle.”

Team
Violation1.com/Shea Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear, powered by Munn
Racing KTM, will head to round seven of Monster Energy AMA Supercross
on Saturday, February 19, 2011 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego,
California. This is round six of eight of the Supercross Lites West
Region. Fans attend the event to see West Region Lites athlete Casey
Hinson #149 on his DeCal Works-emblazoned KTM 250 SX-F race bike with
body fueled by PowerBar. During the pit party stop by the cannot-miss
team’s purple and yellow semi hauler to meet the riders and the
Violation Goggles girls. Keep posted to the team at www.sheamoto.com.

About Team Violation1.com/Shea Racing/Travisa/National Switchgear

Shea
Racing, led by Tim Shea, places emphasis on involving action sports
fans in the team through pit parties and charity events which it has
done the past four years while participating in professional motocross
races. In its third season in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, the team
has expanded with five Lites riders pitted out of a team semi rig
featuring Austin Howell #61 (West), Tevin Tapia #70 (East), Ricky
Renner #94 (East), Vernon McKiddie #129 (East), and Casey Hinson #149
(West). The 2011 AMA Supercross team is made possible by the Violation
Brand (www.violation1.com), National Switchgear (www.nationalswitchgear.com), Travisa (www.travisa.com), Munn Racing (www.munnracing.com), KTM Sportmotorcycles (www.ktmusa.com), FLY Racing, Power Bar Team Elite, DeCal Works, Dubach Racing Development (DR.D), Maxima Oils, Engine Ice, DT-1 Filters, ActionSportsTV.com,
Matrix Concepts, ODI Grips, Outlaw Products, SuperSprox, IRIS Chains,
Renegade Fuels, Enzo Suspension, Eleven 10 Mods, Lightspeed, TCX Boots,
Stomp Designs, Devol Engineering, Moto Public Relations, Dunlop Tires,
and River Valley Motocross Park. Its community partner is the James
Marshall Project. Visit www.sheamoto.com to learn more.