What happened to PJ Larsen at Houston ?
Thursday 17 February: JDR/J-Star/KTM held great hopes for the two-time Australian National Champion at the opening round of the AMA East Lites Supercross Series in Houston, Texas.
PJ Larsen turned a top qualifying time and earned 2nd overall in his heat before a crash ruined his night.
Larsen
got the crowds attention at the start of the day when he tied Blake
Baggett for the fastest lap time in the first timed practice. Larsen
maintained his pace in the second timed practice finishing 6th
overall within one second of the top five. "I didn’t expect everyone to
be so close in practice. It’s going to be a close race tonight and the
start is going to count big, so I am crossing my fingers to be out front
early,” remarked Larsen after practice.
In his heat, Larsen pulled a 4th place start off the line. He quickly passed Jason Anderson to move into 3rd.
Once inside the top three he began to close in on the front two riders,
Darryn Durham and Dean Wilson. While the top two battled out front
Larsen closed the gap and with two laps to go jumped over Durham to push his way into 2nd place. Wilson maintained the lead while Larsen applied heavy pressure. On the final lap, Larsen pushed hard and finished in 2nd right on the rear tire of Wilson.
"I
was happy with my heat race result. I didn’t get that great of a start
but I was able to make up for it within the first few laps. I was glad
to run with Wilson and am looking forward to the main event,” stated Larsen.
Larsen, who had pulled some impressive starts while racing in Australia
for his team earlier this year, appeared as if he might duplicate that
off the start of the Lites main. Larsen nearly grabbed the holeshot
coming together with Malcolm Stewart as they crossed the first jump side
by side. Larsen settled for 2nd
off the start and immediately began to pressure Stewart. As they made
their way to the back half of the track, Stewart cut hard under Larsen
taking both riders to the ground and a few more riders behind them.
Larsen was slow to come up but eventually remounted and returned to the
track in 17th.
"When
I recovered from the crash with Stewart, I realized real quick that my
rear brake lever had been smashed in the crash. I tried to ride a few
laps before pulling off the first time to fix it,” stated Larsen. He
pulled into the mechanics area on the fifth lap. He was able to kick his
brake pedal back toward its normal position and then returned to the
racing action approximately one lap down. A few laps later, Larsen’s
brake pedal broke off and he had to finish the race without any rear
brakes. "It was so hard to ride without the brakes but I wanted to stay
out there as long as I could to try to salvage any extra points
possible.”
Larsen eventually finished the main event in 18th.
"I’m definitely disappointed that I crashed in the beginning of the
race, but its all part of racing and now I am just looking forward to
redeeming myself at the next round.”
Whilst on the subject ... what happened to Larsen’s
teammate, Tye Simmonds ?
Simmonds, who
competes in the Supercross Class, also had a day of bad luck. He came down with bronchitis earlier in the week.
"I have been incredibly sick the past five days and was not able to
ride at all this week,” remarked the JDR/J-Star/KTM rider. Simmonds
struggled throughout the day as he tried to push past his sickness. "I
feel horrible today but I am doing my best to rest during the week and
am really hoping this disappears by next week so I can have better luck
in San Diego.”
Simmonds will return to California to race the seventh round of the series in San Diego, CA
next weekend while Larsen will have a two week break before returning
for the second round of the East Lites SX at the Atlanta Supercross on
February 26th.