DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha - Houston SX Race Report

Houston,
TX. (February 12, 2011)
The AMA Supercross series went to the mid west over the weekend, and
a huge crowd of 45,859 fans filled Houston, Texas’ Reliant Stadium.
DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha came in and showcased their three
East coast contingents for the first time this season, consisting of
#25 Ryan Sipes, #387 Gareth Swanepoel, and rookie #533 Gannon
Audette. The day started out fairly well for the Yamaha backed
riders, with Sipes putting down an impressive lap time as 1^st
fastest, followed by Audette 4^th,
and Swanepoel netted 12^th
in timed qualifying.

Slated
into Heat #1, Audette had been feeling confident all day and it
showed when he reeled off a great start and settled into the 5^th
spot. Swanepoel bulldogged his way through the tight turn one and
established himself inside of the top ten. Both riders maintained
impressive showings through the race, but unfortunately Swanepoel
swapped out in the whoop section and that ended his race. Audette
went on to comfortably gain experience, qualifying 7^th.
In Heat #2, Sipes nearly got knocked down in the first turn.
Immediately, Sipes started to apply pressure to move forward with raw
speed, and even closed in on the race leaders. After filing back into
the 4^th
position following a few mistakes, Sipes regained his composure and
had some luck on his side for sure. The #25 machine riding solidly
continued to the finish in the 4^th
spot. Swanepoel’s night progressively got worse as a crash in the
LCQ’s first turn, resulted in harsh close to his debut.

When
the gate dropped in the main event, this time Sipes was forced to
sneak around the inside of the first turn in order to come out near
the front of the field, meanwhile Audette was mired back in 13^th.
Upfront, holding down 5^th
on lap one, Sipes wasted no time in getting out front and near the
top three. Racing with the lead group, Ryan was once again
establishing himself as a contender by holding his own and
challenging for the 3^rd
place position. Lap eight saw a minor setback after he missed his
timing in a rhythm section, causing a slip of a little time. Not
backing down one bit; he began to put his fitness to use and with
only a handful of laps remaining until the checkers Sipes continued
with lots of effort and drove in a hard pass for 3^rd,
a collision ensued and both of them went down. Jumping back on the
still running machine, Sipes would go on to a stellar finish of 4^th.
Audette hung tough avoiding any huge mishaps, going to place 13^th
at the conclusion of his first ever professional race.

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