DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha - Hangtown MX

Rancho
Cordova, CA.
(May 21, 2011) The AMA MX National Series got the twelve race
championship underway at Hangtown MX Park this past Saturday. DNA
Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha attended with a huge presence, fielding
our six rider team comprised of, #25 Ryan Sipes, #35 Kyle Cunningham,
#387 Gareth Swanepoel, #533 Gannon Audette, and the WMA title holder
#1 Jessica Patterson who will contend the entire women’s series, as
well as, #76 Kyle Partridge who is racing the 450 class under the
teams tent. Saturday’s timed qualifying started out promising with
our ultra fast YZ 250F’s powering each rider to a fast lap time,
the fastest being Sipes who obtained the 5^th
gate pick for the opening moto.

Finding
good form here early in the series, after sitting out with injuries
all season, Swanepoel dug deep and took control of his outcome. The
first moto was a trying one at that, Swanepoel started 22^nd,
then after a few calculated moves near mid moto. Swanepoel had
climbed the charts slightly, holding steady at 14^th,
he rallied to close the gap and make more advances. In doing so, just
past the halfway Gareth made up the ground needed, moving forward
with only a few laps until the finish. Still charging in good fashion
to snatch up a few tiring riders, as the moto concluded he’d settle
in at 9^th.
In
moto two Swanepoel’s start panned out a little more to his liking,
with him in 5^th,
however he kept on the pressure and passed for 4^th
in the first few minutes of the race. Finding his comfort zone and
holding 5^th
easily as he rode at the tail end of a four rider freight train, he
made smart moves on a section of the track where he excelled. Not
settling one iota, Swanepoel displayed great strength on the rough
terrain and when it was over, he’d come away with a 5^th,
netting him 6^thoverall
on the day.

Cunningham
had a good start to his first season of outdoors on the team, through
his consistency he did fairly well but it was not where he would have
liked to land on the results page. For the Texas rider moto one began
with him in 7^th,
from there Cunningham maintained his composure and put his head down.
Impressively, Cunningham rode in the thick of a battle for the top
five for much of the race, and now sat in a solid 8^th.
In the closing stages Cunningham had one bad bobble which cost him a
few seconds on the clock as he crossed the finish line in 8^th.
Cunningham’s second part of his tally had him starting 9^th;
and that was after passing a couple of riders in lap one. By the
halfway mark he had crept his way into 8^th,
riding solidly he maintained this position for most of the race,
leaving him to a finish of 8^th
and a 7^th
overall.

The
rookie learning curve of Audette could be felt, starting 5^th
in moto one, the DNA backed rider could not find his contending speed
after tightening up early on. Doing what he could all the while, one
rider after another would shift him back through the moto. The tough
showing, only allowed Audette to muster up a 14^th
finishing position. Moto two looked more promising, as he started
12^th,
and then moved to back a few spots into 14^th.
Racing with some passion, Audette pushed hard in 15th where he’d
finish out salvaging 14^th
overall.

In
closing, Ryan Sipes had a rough start to his outdoor series, starting
off in a mid pack position unfortunately he crashed in a first turn
pileup and had trouble restarting the motorcycle. This resulted in
Sipes riding a portion of the moto, before pulling off with an
injured wrist. Moto two was not in the cards and as of early this
week his prognosis is fine and he’ll be attending the next round in
Texas.

Holding
the torch high for the team, Jessica Patterson went out and destroyed
her competition in a convincing fashion. Starting out in 1st,
Patterson checked out and took the win leading every lap. Moto two
was a little more dramatic, starting 5^th
after making a mistake; Patterson forged forward every lap and took
the 1^st
spot by the halfway mark which gave her the overall win with a
statement.

Also adding to the great
race results, was Kyle
Partridge our 450F pilot who put two
steady moto’s together going 27-28 for 28^th
overall.

Star
Racing is proudly supported by:

DNA
Shred Stix,
Yamaha
Motor Corp,
Scott
Sports,
N-Fab,
FMF,
Cosworth,
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,
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Tec,
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MX