RK Excel America

Jacksonville, FL. (February 19, 2011) Over the weekend DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha and our squad comprised of, #25 Ryan Sipes, and rookie #533 Gannon Audette focused in deeply at the task of turning in their best and grabbing a finish back up front. The AMA Supercross Lites East series setup to do battle in Jacksonville, Florida at Ever Bank Field before a solid fan base. With ever changing track conditions, Sipes once again posted the 1st quickest timed qualifying lap, while Audette logged in at the 6th spot. Here is the play by play…

In Heat #1, Audette jumped out to great start sitting in 3rd, but then ran it in way too hot into a turn, while trying to make a block pass. The intended result unfortunately wouldn’t work out, as Gannon crossed lines with another rider and was forced to the ground. Remounting in last place, Audette found himself trying to rebound to get inside of the top nine in order to avoid the LCQ. Setting some of the fastest lap times of the heat race, and making bold moves, Audette mounted a super charge from the rear of the field to grab 7th just before the checkers.

Heat #2 had our other Yamaha pilot lined up on the gate; Sipes managed to get a great start seeing him hold down a front running position coming around the awkward first turn. Sitting upfront for Sipes is where he’s most confident, as he had moved into 3rd and began applying pressure to the leaders. Sipes battled hard, and avoided making mistakes through the duration. In doing so, he was able to finish to a respectable 3rd place.

The main event got underway; Sipes starting in decent fashion, was able to creep around the outside of the first turn. Rounding lap one within the top five, Sipes maintained a pace that helped put him in the breakaway with the real contenders. Lap four saw big changes, as Sipes assumed 3rd and went on to pressure for a possible higher finish in the coming laps. From there, entering into the halfway mark, the race settled down with the top three hitting their marks and creating some small gaps. Heading towards the checkers, Sipes comfortably held 3rd and would go on to finish out there, completing the third straight weekend of standing on the podium. Meanwhile, Audette’s race was over before it really began, because of a pileup on lap one Gannon was unable to continue and forced to take a 19th place finish on the night.

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

JDR/J-Star/KTM rider PJ Larsen put together a top five performance at the fifth round of the AMA East Lites Supercross Series in Jacksonville, FL where he earned 5th overall for the night.

Larsen’s day went well right from the start of the night show. In his heat, Larsen got off to a great start within the top three. He stuck close to Matt Lemoine who was in 2nd position behind Dean Wilson. As they neared the halfway point, Larsen was all over the rear wheel of Lemoine. He continued to pressure Lemoine through the six lap heat eventually crossing the line in 3rd position to earn a great gate pick for the main event.

“I had a good heat race. I was able to grab a decent start and put myself up front early. I would have liked to pick up one more spot but it was safer to finish 3rd and get a spot on the main event gate rather than make a last second attempt and risking a crash to pick up 2nd in the heat,” remarked Larsen.

In the Supercross class, Larsen’s teammate, Tye Simmonds, suffered a horrible crash in his heat in the rhythm section right after the start straight. Simmonds did not finish the race and returned to the truck for further evaluation. He was able to get his bike prepped and gather some strength to get back to the track for the LCQ. Unfortunately, he suffered a terrible start and was only able to make his way up to 10th by the end of the LCQ.

In the main event, Larsen started about 15th. He was able to avoid a first lap pile up and moved into the top ten after the first lap. By lap two he had moved up to 8th. On the third lap he was able to move up one more position after Blake Wharton crashed in the whoops. The next lap he passed Hunter Hewitt to move up to 6th. He spent the remainder of the race reeling in Darryn Durham. As the race wore on, Larsen increased his lap times and was running times approximately one second a lap faster than Durham. Larsen made the pass for 5th position on the second to last lap and matched his best finish so far this season.

Next Event – March 26, 2011 – Toronto Supercross

One of the newer stops on the tour, EverBank Field has only been on the circuit three years. The Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGRMX Team was on hand for Friday’s Press Day event, with Justin Brayton and Davi Millsaps speaking with several local news reporters about the race beginning at 5:00 a.m. on Friday. An example of one of the subsequent features can be viewed via the following link:

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/196820/3/Update-VIDEO–Supercross-Revs-Up-at-EverBank-Field.

After avoiding the dreaded last chance qualifier (LCQ) all season long, Justin Brayton had the misfortune to crash during the first lap of his heat race forcing him to attempt to qualify from the LCQ with a badly bruised knee. Millsaps kept his streak alive and transferred directly to the main from the second heat. There are two heat races with the field divided into two groups. The riders are assigned to race in either heat one or heat two, both of which are eight laps. The LCQ consists of the riders who did not finish within the top-nine from their designated heat race. The LCQ is only six laps, and just the first and second place riders transfer to the main event, making the race a desperate and often very physical ordeal with so much at stake. Brayton did not get the start he wanted tangling with the series points leader (who also crashed in his heat race) and going down. He remounted and began the race outside of the top-10. Determined to qualify he rode hard and when the checkers flew he was just one position from qualifying. To illustrate the perils of the LCQ, the series points leader also did not transfer.

Millsaps began the main event in fourth place and was riding well when the track claimed him as well. He re-started in 12th and began moving forward until while in 10th position on lap eight he went down again, this time the fall was hard enough to end his night. He was credited with 17th overall.

SPEED will broadcast the action from Jacksonville Sunday March 20 at 6:00 p.m. (EST). The next and only round of the series held outside of the United States will take place Saturday, March 26 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON. SPEED will air the original broadcast March 27 at 5:00 p.m. (EST).

To:RK Chain Customers,

We are all hoping for the best outcome after the recent earthquakes and tsunamis that have devastated Japan in the past week.

We have been in contact with RK Japan on a limited basis due to obstacles they are facing in continuing “business as usual”. RK Japan has reported that all of their employees are safe, as well as the Tokyo offices and the factory in Saitama Japan. With that said, they are dealing with limited communications, water and food shortages, power outages and transportation issues just to name a few.

RK Japan has reported that they are dealing with a minimum of 3 hours per day without power in Tokyo and at the Saitama factory. These rolling power outages are scheduled to run without any real understanding of when these outages will end. The Japanese government is doing all they can to keep the power on, but rolling blackouts are necessary under the current circumstances.

RK Excel America is dedicated to doing all we can to assist Japan in any way we can.

We sincerely thank you for patience and understanding in this delicate matter. Our thoughts and condolences go out to all the families who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

Best Regards,
Kipp McGowan
Sales Manager
RK Excel America Inc.