US Supercross Lites East Series: 3rd round
By TMX Archives on 9th Mar 08
The MDK KTM riders were on hand to contribute to the nights exciting action.
Although riders practiced on a dry course all would change by 2:00pm in theafternoon when rain poured down causing a cancellation of second practice andevoking an earlier start to the evening. The first heat race kicked off half anhour earlier than normal at 6:30pm. Soon after, MDK KTM Factory rider MartinDavalos joined MDK KTM Lites Team riders, Matt Goerke and Ryan Sipes, in Heat #2of the Lites Supercross class. Goerke got a great jump off the gate and camearound the first turn in 3rd while Davalos and Sipes suffered poor starts.Davalos got stuck in a mud hole on the first lap and took another lap to getback and going again. In the short four lap heat, the time lost cost him atransfer spot to the main. Meanwhile, Sipes had charged his way up to 10th, butalso, was short of making the main. Goerke, however, was still going strong andfinished 3rd in the heat qualifying in good position into the main.
In the Lites last chance Davalos and Sipes had to finish in the top four inorder to transfer to the main. Sipes got a decent start within the top ten andbegan to move forward. He quickly moved into the top three and began to ridesafe in order to qualify into the main. Unfortunately, Davalos had an ill-fatedstart and had to charge his way up through the pack. Just as he moved intoqualifying position he lost control of the bike while attempting a double jumpand flipped off the track into a river of mud. Davalos was uninjured but wasunable to finish the heat. Back out front Sipes had moved into second earninghimself a spot on the main event line-up.
The Lites riders were rushed to the field in order to get the show underwayas the rain had began to pour harder and did not look like it would seize forsome time. The main event was shortened from its normal 15 laps to 10 due to theawful track conditions. When the gate dropped for the main event Goerke andSipes both garnered mid-pack starts. Sipes was turning quick lap times and wasable to muscle his way into 6th by the end of the race. Goerke kept it on twowheels and was able to finish 11th for the night. With the points earned tonightSipes now sits 2nd in overall points, Davalos is holding on to 6th and Goerke isin 14th.
Results
1 48 Trey Canard Honda
2 2 RyanVillopoto Kawasaki
3 109 Matt Boni Honda
4 979 Ben Coisy Honda
5 702Jimmy Albertson Suzuki
6 57 Ryan Sipes KTM
11 41 Matthew GoerkeKTM
Standings
1 48 Trey Canard Honda 75
2 57Ryan Sipes KTM 51
3 979 Ben Coisy Honda 47
4 2 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki44
5 341 Nico Izzi Suzuki 42
6 577 Martin Davalos KTM 33
14 41Matthew Goerke KTM 22
Next Event: Minneapolis Supercross, Saturday March 15, 2008