Lake Elsinore Motocross Park became a new home for the 2012 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship that kicked off over the weekend. With the weather holding clear sky’s and the Southern California heat bearing down on the track, fans flooded the stands ready to watch the battle take course. Star Valli Yamaha rider Jeremy Martin continued to turn heads in the 250 class after recently swapping his amateur status for Pro. Martin celebrated a ninth-place overall result, thanks to two 10th-place moto finishes.
“I had a great time at Elsinore. I went 10/10 for ninth overall and I’m happy with that. I know I have a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to this off-season. I want to win and I’m going to take all the steps necessary to come out next year and have a really strong, full rookie season.” – Jeremy Martin
Star Valli Yamaha teammate Kyle Cunningham also put in two solid rides in the 250 class, and continues to recover from injuries that caused him to miss much of the 2012 season. Cunningham made more progress at this round, finishing 14th in the first moto and ninth in the second for 11th overall.
“The track was pretty brutal,” said Cunningham. It got hard-packed and really slick. I just wanted to come out and put in two solid motos. Unfortunately, in the first moto, I just ran out of gas and it was a bit of a bummer. I went back out in the second moto and I was a little fatigued, but I gutted through it and survived. Now I’ll just focus on getting stronger for next year.” – Kyle Cunningham
Like Rockstar’s Cunningham, Star Valli Yamaha’s Kyle Peters also missed a number of races due to injury, but made significant progress at the Lake Elsinore National. Peters got good starts and ran in the top 10 before picking up 13th- and 16th-place 250 moto finishes for 16th overall.
“I got one really good start and a pretty good start, but I had some issues. I had really bad stomach cramps in the second moto and finished 16th. In the first moto, I didn’t feel good until the last few laps, but by then it was too late. Now, I’m ready to regroup and get ready for next year.” – Kyle Peters
Also racing for the Star Valli Yamaha 250 team was Cole Thompson, who put in a valiant effort but suffered in the intense heat. In the first moto, Thompson got a great start but faded to 12th. In the second, the Rockstar rider succumbed to the high temps and didn’t finish, but still ended up 18th overall for the day.
“In the first moto, I got a good start and was running in the top 10. But the heat got to me and I went back to 12th. In the second moto, I got a decent start, but I just started feeling sick and I pulled off and couldn’t finish.” – Cole Thompson
Finally, Star Valli Yamaha 250 teammate Ryan Sipes tried to race the first moto but wasn’t feeling well and retired for the day before the race’s end.
In the 450 class, Star Valli Yamaha’s Nico Izzi finished the 2012 season with a solid performance. In the first moto, unfortunately, the Rockstar rider went down in a turn-one pile-up and couldn’t rejoin the race. In the second moto, however, Izzi bounced back with a great start and finished an impressive seventh. He wound up 14th overall for the day.
“In the first moto, I was in that turn-one pile-up and broke my throttle housing and I couldn’t finish. I was excited to go out and burn some laps on the new track in the second moto. So I went out and came through the pack, charged my way through to the top 10 and finished it out strong in seventh.” – Nico Izzi
Star Valli Yamaha teammate Bobby Kiniry also had a good showing in the 450 class despite some bad luck. In the first moto, Kiniry suffered several get-offs and didn’t finish the moto. In the second race, he got a good start but fell again. In spite of this, he still managed to rally and finish 15th in the second moto and 20th overall.
“All in all, it was an OK day. In the first moto, I got a good start but I fell in that big turn-one pile-up. But I got back on my bike and got up to 21st pretty quick. Then I ended up falling again and twisting my leg pretty good and bending my bike up, so I went back to the truck to regroup. I went out for the second moto and got a great start and was trying to move up when I fell on my face and had to start from dead last again. But I worked my way up to 15th on the last lap and I can’t complain about that.” – Bobby Kiniry
Finally, Star Valli Yamaha welcomed an additional rider to their Rockstar fold this weekend, 450 class racer Scott Champion. Champion raced to 26th- and 21st-place moto finishes for an overall result of 28th for the day.
“This opportunity was a last-minute deal. We put this thing together and I came out to race Elsinore just to have some fun and so the team could see where I was at. I had a lot of fun and I appreciate the opportunity to race with the Star Valli Yamaha team.” – Scott Champion
Want to see more photos? Make sure to visit our Lake Elsinore MX photo gallery and click through all the pictures or visit the Star Valli Yamaha Rockstar web site!
The post Star Valli Yamaha Lake Elsinore MX Report appeared first on MetalMulisha.com.
Source: http://www.metalmulisha.com/blog/2012/09/star-valli-yamaha-lake-elsinore-mx-report/
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