Cernics Kawasaki's Carpenter and Gibson Score Top Ten Finishes in Dallas

April 2, 2007 (Riverside, CA) – Texas Stadium in Dallas hosted the thirteenth round of the Amp’d Mobile Supercross Series in front of 41,635 spectators.  Although the event started slowly for the Cernics Kawasaki team, both riders finished in the top ten.  Paul Carpenter finished a strong eighth and Jeff Gibson finished in tenth despite a last place start.

The strong finishes in Dallas improves both riders overall status in the World Supercross GP standings.  Carpenter is in ninth position while Gibson is in tenth.  In addition, Carpenter moved into third place in the Pro Privateer Challenge, only three points behind second.

Team owner, Billy Whitley, a resident of Texas, was excited and exclaimed, “It is great to have both of our riders finish in the top ten, and especially here in Texas.  It has been a main goal for the entire season so I’m very excited to have it happen in Texas.  Paul has ridden strong the entire season but has had some bad luck. Jeff has been working very hard over the past couple of months and you can see the work paying off for him and the team.”

Due to a major storm passing through the Dallas area in the days prior to the event, the event schedule was slightly modified and practice was cut to one session.  Unfortunately, both Cernics Kawasaki riders had difficulties adjusting to the moist track and didn’t qualify in very good positions.  The result ended in poor starting gate positions for their heat races.  Carpenter rode well in his heat race and ended up qualifying with a sixth place position.  However, Gibson found himself at the back of the pack in his heat race and couldn’t move up quick enough.  He had to go to the Last Chance Qualifier and qualified for the main event with a second place finish.

“I didn’t feel great in practice so that hurt me with my starting position.  Then I got a bad start in my heat race and couldn’t get going forward.  I finally got going in the LCQ and felt really good once I got behind the leader. The last thing I wanted to do was to take both of us out so I just followed him around the track.  In the main, I got another bad start but I felt really good.  I loosened up and rode my own race and ended up with a top ten finish.”

“Both guys had a good night and they both rode strong,” explained team manager, Derek Sorenson.  “They couldn’t get good starts with the bad gate picks but they still ended up with top ten finishes.  Overall, we couldn’t ask for much more and they are both in the top ten of the World GP Supercross standings as well.”

The Cernics Kawasaki Racing Team will take a couple weeks off as the series takes a break.  They will travel to Detroit’s Ford Field for the next round of the Amp’d Mobile Supercross Series on April 22, 2007.

Team Sponsors
Cernic’s – Kawasaki Motors Corporation – Pro Circuit – Pirelli
Alpinestars – VP Racing Fuels – Snap-On – RK – Excel – Bell – Cycra – Athena – Etnies – Moose Racing – TAG Metals – Silkolene – N-Style – Fast 50s – Motion Pro – OGIO – LightSpeed – UNI – Sunline – ARC – American Racing ATX Series – EBC – Hinson – Spy Optics