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
Overall Results Lites Supercross Class –
1) Justin Barcia
2) Dean Wilson
3) Ryan Sipes
4) Matt Lemoine
5) PJ Larsen – KTM
6) Darryn Durham
7) Les Smith
8) Taylor Futrell
9) Hunter Hewitt
10) Justin Sipes
11) Lance Vincent
12) AJ Catanzaro
13) Kyle Keylon
14) Sean Lipanovich
15) Brad Ripple
16) Levi Kilbarger
17) Blake Wharton
18) Chris Gosselaar
19) Gannon Audette
20) Malcolm Stewart
Overall Results Supercross Class –
1) Trey Canard
2) Chad Reed
3) Ryan Dungey
4) Kevin Windham
5) Andrew Short – KTM
6) Ivan Tedesco
7) Mike Alessi – KTM
8) Austin Stroupe
9) Nick Wey
10) Chris Blose
11) Fabien Izoird
12) Michael Byrne
13) Jason Thomas
14) Jarrod Browne
15) Cole Seely
16) Kyle Partridge
17) Davi Millsaps
18) Matt Goerke
19) Weston Peick
20) James Stewart
Overall Point Standings Lites Supercross Class –
1) Justin Barcia – 116
2) Ryan Sipes – 99
3) Dean Wilson – 97
4) Blake Baggett – 85
5) Blake Wharton – 69
6) Matt Lemoine – 69
7) PJ Larsen – 62
8) Malcolm Stewart – 53
9) Jason Anderson – 44
10) Lance Vincent – 43
Overall Point Standings Supercross Class –
1) Ryan Villopoto – 221
2) Chad Reed – 214
3) Ryan Dungey – 203
4) James Stewart – 198
5) Trey Canard – 194
6) Andrew Short – 145
7) Justin Brayton – 121
8) Kevin Windham – 121
9) Davi Millsaps – 118
10) Brett Metcalfe – 107
