Anderson on the podium at St. Louis
By Team TMX on 17th Apr 16
Jason Andersons podium finish highlighted the night for the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team at the 14th round of AMA Supercross, held at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO on Saturday.
Although there were moments of success for teammates Christophe Pourcel and Martin Davalos, they will have to regroup after tough main events in their respective classes and focus on rebounding at next week's race in Foxborough, MA.
Jason Anderson was fourth at the start of his 450 heat before quickly navigating his Husqvarna FC 450 into third. After a hard fought battle for 2nd he held on to third to transfer to the main. He pulled another fourth-place start in the main and held strong until lap seven when he made an aggressive pass on Justin Brayton for third. He quietly moved into second after Ken Roczen had an incident, and started gaining ground on race leader Ryan Dungey with five laps to go before going to battle again with Roczen till the very last turn for the 2nd spot on the podium. He eventually conceded the position to earn his second-consecutive third-place finish. He holds on to third overall in 450 rider point standings.
"I started up front and once again finished on the podium,” said Anderson, "But I want more. I need to get holeshots, not just good starts, and I want to win races, not just be on the podium. I know I'm capable and I know my Husqvarna FC 450 is capable.”
Martin Davalos had a successful start to his night. He posted the fifth-fastest practice time, and pulled the holeshot in his heat aboard his Husqvarna FC 250 before moving to third, and made a massive pass over the triple, landing to the inside for second to transfer to the 250 SX East main. The main, however, was a bit more troublesome. He got slammed at the start and was caught up in a huge pileup before remounting in dead last. He started clicking off laps and passing riders, and was putting in an impressive run by navigating all the way back to ninth with five laps to go. It seemed as if he was going to salvage a decent night despite his luck, but then had an unfortunate crash and dropped all the way back to 17th. He eventually finished the race in 15th.
"Today was going ok,” said Davalos. "I rode pretty good in my heat race by the end and had a good gate pick for the main. The main event just started bad and it was hard to recover. I never rode how I know I can after that first turn crash and that was frustrating. The good news is we race again in 7 days and I am going to make sure I'm ready so I can get back on the box next weekend.”
Christophe Pourcel lined up for the 450 main by way of a fifth-place finish in the semi. In the main, he pulled a mid-pack start and found himself in 18th by lap 12. He eventually finished the night in 18th.
"I wasn't comfortable all day. The only problem was me,” said Pourcel. "My body is still not 100% from my injury, but I'm working to get there. My bike was great, I just have to get myself better. That's my plan for the last 3 races; improve every time I'm on the bike so I can start outdoors strong.”
