Yoshimura Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe raced to his best result of the AMA/ FIM World Supercross season at the third round at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
The RM-Z450-mounted Australian has now moved up into seventh place in the title chase following his hard fought-for fifth position in the 20-lap Main Event.
Although the Yoshimura Suzuki racer had been fighting illness all week, Metcalfe still gave it his all at Saturday night’s event. Despite the day’s practice being cut-short due to bad weather, he shined during qualifying and then put in a solid performance in his heat race to finish fifth.
In the Main Event – which was restarted after a red flag came out for downed riders – Metcalfe continued to shine: He got a good start on the Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 and rode a smart, consistent race.
Said Metcalfe: “The whole day was the best we’ve had so far. The Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 was working awesome and I think I had one of the best bikes on the track all day. The heat race went well and I ended up fifth, but I rode really well and I think it’s the best ride I’ve had all year. Going into the Main, the RM-Z450 was working great out on the track. I got a better start on the re-start and I was up there early. After being sick, I knew I was going to be short of breath, so I just wanted to hit 20 laps consistently and ride hard, but not to the point where I’d push myself to the limit and start going downhill. So I just maintained myself the whole race and came home fifth; which was by-far the best result of the year.”
Next weekend, the Yoshimura Suzuki team heads to Northern California for the next round of the AMA/ FIM World Supercross series. Last year, at the Oakland event, Metcalfe carded a fifth-place result and he is looking to improve upon that.
“I had a good run at Oakland last year,” said Metcalfe. “We’ve made some good progress over the last week and I want to thank the whole Yoshimura Suzuki team. We’ve got a good package with the RM-Z450 and we’re starting to make steps in the right direction. I’m looking forward to getting up front at Oakland.”
In the Supercross Lites class, Rockstar Energy’s Jason Anderson and Martin Davalos took fifth and nine positions respectively aboard their RM-Z250 Suzukis.
Supercross results: 1 Chad Reed (Honda), 2 Ryan Dungey (KTM), 3 James Stewart (Yamaha), 4 Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki), 5 Brett Metcalfe (Yoshimura Suzuki), 6 David Millsaps (Yamaha), 7 Josh Hansen (Kawasaki), 8 Broc Tickle (Kawasaki), 9 Kevin Windham (Honda), 10 Mike Alessi (Suzuki).
