San Diego, Calif. – February 8th, 2010 – Another storm swept through Southern California on Saturday, and threatened to turn the fifth round of the AMA/FIM Supercross Championship into a mud show, but the Dirt Wurx crew came to the rescue once again by shielding the track through the worst of the rains. The intermittent showers that followed were enough to make the track slick and soft, but without the efforts of the Dirt Wurx team, the conditions would have been much worse.

In the Lites class, Hunter Hewitt fell victim to the slick track and missed qualifying in his heat race, but came back strongly to win the LCQ.  In the main, Hunter pushed hard and was running seventh until a crash on the fourth lap.  Hunter recovered and raced his way to a respectable twelfth place finish, his second-best of the season. Hunter is looking forward to pushing both himself and his RMZ-250 at this coming Saturday’s Anaheim-3 round.

The slick track claimed several victims in the Supercross class as well, including Rockstar Energy Suzuki rider Tommy Hahn. Tommy got off to a solid start in the main aboard his RM-Z450, but got involved in a pile-up going into turn one that took down several other riders. The crash put Tommy toward the back of the pack, but he wasn’t out of the race just yet. “I rode as hard as I could, and just focused on making some progress,” said Tommy. His efforts made it possible for him to work his way back through the pack to a seventh-place finish, his best so far this season. Team manager Bill Keefe also commented on Tommy’s stellar performance, saying, “Tommy’s charge to seventh was, without a doubt, his best ride of the season. It’s unfortunate he was involved in that first-turn crash.”

With both Tommy and Hunter showing improvement with each race and the potential return of Lites-class rider Ryan Morais, this weekend’s Anaheim 3 round will surely prove to be an exciting one for the Rockstar Energy Suzuki team.

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PJ Larsen will fill in for FMF/KTM rider Tommy Searle at the next two Supercross events in the West Lites Supercross class

Murrieta, CA – PJ Larsen, who most recently signed a two-year contract with the JDR Motorsports/Motorex/KTM Team to race the KTM 250 SX-F in both the Australian Motocross Lites and Supercross Lites Series, will temporarily fill in for the injured FMF/KTM Factory rider Tommy Searle at both the San Diego and Anaheim 3 Supercross events.
 
“We were hoping Tommy’s injury (suffered in a practice crash at Anaheim 2) would not have kept him out for this length of time. Now that we know more about his injury, we feel it is the right time to bring on a replacement rider for the next two rounds,” commented FMF/KTM Factory Team Manager Casey Lytle. “PJ has been working with us for the past couple weeks to prepare for his upcoming season racing for the KTM Team in Australia and with a few weeks left in the states we felt this would be a good warm-up for him going into his season and our chance to have a KTM rider up front.”

“I am excited to come out and race the next two Supercross races for the FMF/KTM Factory Team,” remarked Larsen. “I have been mainly riding motocross to prepare for the Australian Motocross Lites Championship, but was able to start riding the KTM Supercross track this week, and surprisingly, I feel pretty good. I am looking forward to this weekend and racing the KTM for the first time in the U.S.”

Although it has been determined that Searle will sit out the San Diego round, it is not yet determined if he will be back for Anaheim 3. “I was finally able to ride again this week but still feel that my shoulder is too weak and not quite race ready. We will try again next week, and if all goes well, I will be back for Anaheim 3,” stated Searle.

KTM Injury Update

Murrieta, CA – FMF/KTM rider Tommy Searle is at his home in Murrieta, CA recovering from a practice crash at Anaheim 2 that kept him from competing in the night’s main event.

Searle crashed during the second practice at the Anaheim event falling hard on his right side and injuring the right shoulder. “I went to the Asterisk Medical Unit for assistance immediately following the incident and then tried to race in my heat race. Unfortunately the pain increased and I was not able to complete the race,” remarked Searle.

Searle will rest the first half of the week to see if the pain subsides. “At this point it is not certain if Tommy will be able to ride in San Francisco. He is focused on recovering and hopes to be ready for this weekend,” commented FMF/KTM Factory Team Manager Casey Lytle.