Rancho Cordova, CA -The AMA MX National Series got the twelve race championship underway at Sacramento, Ca at Hangtown MX Park this past Saturday. DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing/Yamaha attended with a huge presence, fielding our five rider team comprised of, #20 Broc Tickle, #48 Max Anstie, #341 Nico Izzi, #577 Martin Davalos and the WMA title threat #2 Jessica Patterson who will contend the entire women’s series for the team. Saturday’s timed qualifying started out promising with our ultra fast YZ 250F’s powering each rider to a fast lap time, the fastest being Tickle who obtained the 2^nd gate pick for the opening moto.

 

Finding good form here early in the series, was Tickle who dug deep and took control of his outcome. The first moto was a trying one at that, Tickle started 10^th, then after a few calculated moves near mid moto. Tickle had climbed the charts slightly, holding steady at 7^th, he rallied to close the gap and make more advances. In doing so just past halfway Broc lost his wheels and crashed. Remounting in a distant 12^th position, the always tough kid raced back up to 11^th only to yet again take another soil sample. Dropping a spot one more time Tickle made up the ground needed, moving forward with only a few laps until the finish. Still charging in good fashion to snatch up a few tiring riders, he’d come up short as the moto concluded and was forced to settle in 11^th.    In moto two Tickle’s start panned out a little more to his liking, with him in 8^th, however he kept on the pressure and passed for 7^th fifteen minutes into the race. Right till the bitter end, Tickle looked to have a top five finish coming his way. As he rode at the tail end of a four rider freight train, he made smart moves on a section of the track where he excelled. Lots of persistence paid off, which allowed Broc to get into 5^th inside of four laps to go. Not settling one iota, Tickle hounded the moto one winner, nearly passing him on several occasions, but he never got it done. When it was over, Broc came away with a 5^th, netting him 7^thoverall on the day.

 

Anstie had a good start to his first season of outdoors on a Yamaha, through his consistency he did fairly well but it was not where he would have liked to land on the results page. For the English rider moto one began with him in 11^th, from there Anstie maintained his composure and put his head down. Impressively, in just six laps he gained two positions, and now sat in a solid 9^th. In the closing stages Anstie had one bad bobble which cost him a few spots as he crossed the finish line in 12^th. Anstie second part of his tally had him starting 19^th; and that was after passing a slew of riders in lap one. By the halfway mark he had crept his way into 15^th, riding solidly he maintained this position for most of the race and right at the end Max moved passed a fatigued rider, leaving him to a finish of 14^th and a 11^th overall.

 

The struggles of Davalos could be felt, starting 9^th in moto one, the DNA backed rider could not find his usual contending speed after tightening up early on. Doing what he could all the while, one rider after another would shift him back through the moto. The embarrassing showing, only allowed Davalos to muster up a 16^th finishing position. Moto two looked more promising, as he started 11^th, and then moved to back a few spots into 14^th. Racing with some passion, Davalos pushed hard and made it back to 11^th where he’d finish out salvaging 20^th overall.

 

In closing, Nico Izzi had a rough start to his outdoor series, starting off in 12^th unfortunately on lap two he crashed and had trouble restarting the motorcycle. This resulted in a long moto for Nico, but he did comeback to 22^nd. Moto two was a solid showing for Izzi, who is coming off injuries. With lap one in the books, once again he held 12^th and maintained that position the entire moto. Izzi’s uneventful combined moto scores gave him an overall of 18^th and gave him something to build on.

 

Holding the torch high for the team, Jessica Patterson went out and destroyed her competition in a convincing fashion. Starting out in 2^nd, she made an awesome pass on lap two to go by her arch rival. From there, Patterson checked out and took the win. Moto two was all of the same but better as Patterson led every lap and took the overall win with a statement.

 

Star Racing extends a great deal of gratitude to our sponsors.

DNA Shred Stix, Division 7, Yamaha Motor Corp, FLY Racing, DNA Energy, NCY, Bell Helmets, Easton ExP, FMF, Sunstar, Factory Effex, Dunlop, Enzo, DC Shoes, RK Chains, Yamalube, GYTR, Ride Engineering, Mechanix Wear, Twin Air, Lightspeed, ARC, Braking, Vortex Ignitions, CP pistons, Web Cams, ICW, JD Built, Renegade Fuels, Crank Works, Eibach, EVOMX fuel foam, Met Tec, Champion Tools