JDR/J-Star/KTM rider PJ Larsen earned his career best finish with a 4^th overall in the East Supercross Lites class of the AMA Supercross Series in Toronto, Canada.

Larsen had a decent start to his day turning the 10^th fastest lap time in timed practice. His qualifying time earned him the fifth gate pick at the start of the first Lites heat. Larsen got pushed around on the start of his heat and came from around 10^th to 6^th within a few laps. He maintained that position through the checkers to qualify into the main event.

At the start of the main event, Larsen grabbed a good jump off the line and came around the inside of the turn well inside the top ten. As they entered the sand straight, Blake Baggett got cross-rutted and cut into Larsen’s line costing the KTM rider a few positions. Larsen managed to stay on course and sat in 9^th place. By the end of the first lap, Larsen passed two riders to move into 7^th place. He continued to move forward on the next lap passing Hunter Hewitt. On the third lap he capitalized on Malcolm Stewart’s crash and on the fourth lap moved around the downed bike of Lance Vincent. Now sitting in 4^th position, Larsen put his focus on riding consistent to finish the race and earn his season best finish. 

“I was able to finally get a decent result because I rode a consistent race the whole main event and didn’t make any mistakes. I wish I had a better start in the beginning so I could have ran closer to the front of the pack. They had pulled so far out by the time I secured 4^th it was hard to play catch up,” commented Larsen. “Overall I am very excited about this race. This is the best Supercross finish I have had in my career. Since making the switch to KTM, I have continued to improve upon my top finishes and am glad to get another one for myself and the team today.” 

Larsen’s teammate, Tye Simmonds, improved upon his results from the Jacksonville Supercross with a much better showing in Toronto. After not qualifying after a bad crash in his heat at last week’s Supercross race, Simmonds was excited to easily qualify to the main event this weekend with an 8^th place finish in the second Supercross heat. 

In the main event, Simmonds started around 16^th. Throughout the twenty lap main event, he remained consistent in that position. At one point he moved as high up as 13^th before eventually settling into 15^th for the night. “I am definitely still off the pace of where I would like to be at this point in the season. But this is my first year ever racing Supercross and I am learning more each week. I am happy to be near the tail end of the season without injury and also qualifying much easier into the mains than at the start of my season,” stated Simmonds. 

The next race for the team will be the Dallas Supercross next weekend, April 2, 2011, at the Cowboy Stadium. 

Overall Results SX Lites Class –

1)    Dean Wilson

2)    Justin Barcia

3)    Blake Wharton

4)    PJ Larsen – KTM

5)    Ryan Sipes

6)    Blake Baggett

7)    Gannon Audette

8)    Hunter Hewitt

9)    Darryn Durham

10) Matt Lemoine

11) Justin Sipes

12) Les Smith

13) AJ Catanzaro

14) Alex Martin

15) Lance Vincent

16) Ricky Renner – KTM

17) Taylor Futrell

18) Brad Ripple

19) Malcolm Stewart

20) Jason Anderson 

Overall Point Standings SX Lites Class –

1)    Justin Barcia – 138

2)    Dean Wilson – 122

3)    Ryan Sipes – 115

4)    Blake Baggett – 100

5)    Blake Wharton – 89

6)    PJ Larsen – 80

7)    Matt Lemoine – 80

8)    Malcolm Stewart – 55

9)    Lance Vincent – 49

10) Alex Martin – 47 

Overall Results SX Class –

1)    Ryan Dungey

2)    Chad Reed

3)    Trey Canard

4)    James Stewart

5)    Justin Brayton

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