DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha - Las Vegas Supercross Report 1

Las
Vegas, NV.
(May 7, 2011) The AMA Supercross series rolled into Sam Boyd stadium
for the final round of 2011 and to close out the season in style with
some epic racing action before 39k plus amped up fans. DNA Shred Stix
/Star Racing/Yamaha came equipped with our four standout riders for
the final main events of both the East and West, plus the Dave Coombs
East/West shootout for all the bragging rights. FMF backed #25 Ryan
Sipes, #533 Gannon Audette, #35 Kyle Cunningham, and #72 Nick Paluzzi
all had a big task in front of them as they were set to do battle
with the Top 20 riders from each region. Timed - Qualifying went
really well with all the Star boys keeping themselves in the mix of
times, fastest being Sipes in 1st
on the East side and Cunningham taking 1st
in the West. Unfortunately, Audette crashed hard in practice and it
was decided that he should sit this race out after hitting his head.

With
no Heat races, the highly anticipated Lites East Main got underway
first in a positive way. Once out of the gate, Sipes was able to
avoid any first lap carnage, in doing so he put his YZ 250F in the
2nd
position. Riding the wheel and pressuring for the lead, Sipes was
able to assume the lead in the early stages of the race. Out front,
the veteran rode with great poise for the entire race, as he fended
off heavy pressure. Riding without error, Ryan lead the majority of
the main event, all the while having done his best to protect all of
the passing lines. Although, on the last lap he unfortunately was
overtaken and crossed the finish in 2nd.

In
the Lites West Main, Cunningham and Paluzzi both grabbed less than
stellar starts to get things going. On lap three Cunningham was on a
fight towards the front, while Paluzzi was just inside the top 15.
Riding a step above the rest, near the halfway mark Cunningham moved
into the 2nd
position, and established himself as a rider to beat lap after lap.
Unfortunately near the end, in the heat of a crazy battle, Kyle cased
an rthyme section and relinquished second place. Assuming the 3rd
spot from there, it worked out to where he would go on to finish out
in that exact position.

The
LCQ blitzed out of the gate, with Paluzzi circling the track upfront
where it was crucial to be. Riding at the edge to make the main,
Paluzzi assumed the lead on lap one and rode on to the victory. While
Paluzzi took a deep breath knowing he was in the main event, he knew
it was going to be even tougher with such a bad gate pick.

The
East/West shootout Main event time came, and with that the final try
in 2011 to turn some heads was upon us, on lap one Sipes sat 1st,
while Cunningham held 10th,
and Paluzzi was sitting 17th.
In the first half of the race, Sipes was riding on point, leaving
much of his competition to chase. Cunningham was 7th,
and having to dig deeper to achieve any sort of good result.
However, Paluzzi kept putting fast laps down and pulled up to the
14th
spot and hung tough while dicing it out all the way through lap
seven. In the meantime, Sipes took his speed on the track to a higher
level and raced forward making substantial gains on the chasing
field. With the closing laps in progress, Sipes had nailed down the
1st
position, and Cunningham had rebounded to 7th,
while Paluzzi took 13th
on the last lap making a good outcome to all the struggles they both
incurred during the 10 lap race.

Star
Racing had its most successful night of racing to date, and a huge
thanks goes to all of the key backers for their quality service that
helped make the 2011 Supercross season a success.

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,
Met
Tec,
Tammer
MX