Salt Lake City, UT – Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM West Lites Supercross rider Justin Brayton turned his luck around and finished 5th overall at the final round of the AMA West Lites Supercross Series.
Brayton was not able to practice the week leading up to the Salt Lake City Supercross as he was still recovering from a hand and foot injury he suffered in Seattle. “My hand and foot were really swollen and badly bruised this week and I wasn’t able to ride until press day on Thursday,” commented Brayton. One would not have known Brayton had sat the week out after watching him in his heat. Brayton came around the first turn in 3rd position and maintained that position through the end of the race. Jagermeister/MDK/KTM Lites rider Michael Sleeter also easily qualified to the main event when he finished 4th in his heat race.
In the Lites Supercross main event, Brayton got a great jump off the start and rounded the first turn in 7th position. Sleeter was a few spots back in 11th place. On the third lap Brayton passed PJ Larsen to take over 6th place. The next lap he was passed by Jake Weimer and fell back to 7th. The top seven riders continued to pull ahead from the rest of the pack. On the fourth lap Brayton had an 8 second lead on the 8th place rider. Jake Moss, the current leader, crashed on the seventh lap which moved Brayton up one position. Brayton continued to maintain his fast pace and soon caught up to the 5th place ride of Chris Blose. On the twelfth lap he caught and passed Blose to move into the top five. He was able to finish 5th overall for the night and 4th overall for the series. Sleeter rode a consistent race to finish 12th overall.
Next Race: Las Vegas, May 2, 2009
Overall Results Supercross Lites Class:
1) Trey Canard
2) Jake Weimer
3) Ryan Morais
4) Ryan Dungey
5) Justin Brayton – KTM
6) Chris Blose
7) Jake Moss
8) Kyle Cunningham
9) Michael Hall
10) Ben Evans
11) Sean Borkenhagen
12) Michael Sleeter – KTM
13) Jeff Alessi
14) Adam Chatfield
15) Ryan Clark
16) Cole Seely
17) Ben Lamay
18) Gray Davenport
19) Brady Sheren
20) PJ Larsen
Overall Points Supercross Lites:
1) Ryan Dungey – 178
2) Jake Weimer – 173
3) Ryan Morias – 166
4) Justin Brayton – 119
5) Chris Blose – 110
Overall Results Supercross Class:
1) James Stewart
2) Chad Reed
3) Davi Millsaps
4) Ryan Villopoto
5) Andrew Short
6) Josh Grant
7) Kevin Windham
8) Matt Boni
9) Thomas Hahn
10) Ivan Tedesco
11) Paul Carpenter
12) Nick Wey
13) Billy Laninovich
14) Heath Voss
15) Broc Hepler
16) Jacob Marsack
17) Troy Adams
18) Kyle Partridge
19) Kyle Chisholm
Overall Points Supercross:
1) James Stewart – 357
2) Chad Reed – 351
3) Andrew Short – 257
4) Josh Grant – 223
5) Kevin Windham – 218