Rockstar Energy Racing’s Blake Wharton celebrated his first podium of the 2012 AMA/ FIM Supercross season at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on Saturday night with third place in the Supercross Lites class aboard his RM-Z250.
Wharton was the holeshot hero in his Supercross heat race – held in front of a packed-to-capacity 60,000 crowd – jumping out front immediately and leading all six laps to take his first heat-race win of the year. In the Main Event, Wharton was running in the top five from the start and put in an aggressive ride to finish on the podium.
Said Wharton: “It was a good night; I won my heat race. In the Main, I got an average start and actually came together with some guys, but I managed to get through it and make some passes on some guys and ended up third. I’m happy to be on the podium, but I’d like to be on the podium more consistently; and that’s going to take better starts and good riding. Now we go to Daytona and that’s a tough track. But I got fourth there last year and I’m looking to improve on that.”
Rockstar Energy Racing team-mate Hunter Hewitt looked good in his heat race until getting tangled up with another rider and going down hard. But he rallied and went on to get the holeshot in the LCQ, lead all four laps; and take the win to advance to the Main. In the Supercross Lites Main Event, Hewitt got pushed wide at the start and went down, but picked his way through the field to finish 12th.
“St. Louis was rough,” said Hewitt. “I had to go to the LCQ and won that. In the Main, I got pushed outside on the first turn and went down. Then, I just tried to ride my race; and I feel like I pushed hard all the way through. We’re off to Daytona next weekend and it will definitely be a better weekend for me. I’m going in there with a clear head and a refurbished body.”
