Monster/PC/Kawi’s Pourcel, ESX title already clinched, wins the last round before the series heads west; teammate Pourcel’s 3rd and Monster’s Hill is 4th in SX class
CORONA, Calif., (April 6, 2009) – Monster Energy’s Christophe Pourcel (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki), having already wrapped up the ’09 ESX title, put an exclamation point on his first American supercross championship by winning the final ESX round in Jacksonville, round 14 of 2009 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship.
“I’ve got the championship already, but to win (Jacksonville) would be awesome,” said Pourcel prior to Saturday’s competition in front of 35,000-plus fans at Municipal Stadium.
Heat one in the SX Lites class looked to be all Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe – at least in the opening stages. Stroupe got out in 2nd place behind Will Hahn, then charged past Hahn through a double/double section to take the lead on lap two. Pushing hard – and maybe harder than he needed to – Stroupe tucked the front end of his KX250F into the dirt off a jump heading into a corner and was thrown over the bars. Uninjured, Stroupe got back up and got going again, but had gone from 1st to 12th in the quick-hitting six lap race.
“Yeah, at that point I just wanted to get back and catch a transfer spot,” said Stroupe, who fought back to the ninth and final transfer spot.
In the second Lites heat race Pourcel got past Matt Lemoine (who’d pulled the holeshot) and into the early lead. But a rare mistake would put Pourcel back a number of spots when he bobbled in a corner and stalled his bike. Able to re-fire in descent time, Pourcel still lost a bunch of spots with all the riders grouped together near the start of the race charging past him. The Frenchman made it back easily into the transfer positions, running from 10th to 6th by the end of the second heat.
In the main neither Pourcel, who was the fastest rider in qualifying practice (54.224), and Stroupe (2nd fastest qualifier at 54.952) had great gate picks. Pourcel would move up first, completing a spectacular pass on lap two in getting past Vince Friese and Steve Clark to take over 2nd place. Soon after Stroupe, who’d started outside the top ten, moved up to 8th place with a pass over previous ESX Lites round winner Blake Wharton.
With seven laps to go in the contest Pourcel set up and passed race leader Hahn with a nice move on the corner after the finish line jump, forcing Hahn wide and taking over a lead he’d never relinquish.
“He (Pourcel) lets the race come to him, isn’t very flashy, just very disciplined,” said Monster Energy athlete Ricky Carmichael on Pourcel. Note: Carmichael joined SPEED SX announcers Ralph Shaheen and Jeff Emig in the booth for the Jacksonville contest. “He got what he wanted (SX Lites championship) and probably wants the outdoor championship as well.”
As Pourcel celebrated over the finish line jump, Stroupe was pulling out all the stops to close on Nico Izzi for the third and final podium spot. Stroupe would catch a break in one of the final sections when Izzi dove bomb his bike into the face of triple landing, though his bouncing bike almost cleaned out Stroupe as well – who was coming down from 30-feet to land the jump properly.
“I’ve felt good since last weekend and the track was pretty technical, hard to pass and I was having to back off,” said Stroupe. “A couple guys fell late and I was able to move up. Hat’s off to Izzi. I hope he’s all right.”
Monster Energy athletes represented pretty well in the SX main class with Josh Hill (Yamaha) leading the charge in 4th place.
“I’m not going to be happy if I’m not in the top five at the last four races this season,” said a fired-up Hill prior to Jacksonville’s contest.
Monster Energy/Cernic’s/Kawasaki’s Paul Carpenter made it to the SX main event out of the first heat race (8th), though Hill crashed early and was forced to the LCQ. In the second heat race Monster’s Jason Lawrence (Boost Mobile/ampm/Monster Energy/Troy Racing) was on fire, finishing 2nd to eventual race winner James Stewart. Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Billy Laninovich was able to pick up the last transfer spot (9th) to make the SX main.
Hill would end up making the best of the LCQ and some added views of the technical Jacksonville track, winning that contest by just under three seconds ahead of Thomas Hahn. Unfortunately, Lawrence’s Boost Mobile/ampm/Monster Energy/Troy Racing teammate, Nick Wey, placed 3rd in the LCQ and missed out making the SX main by one spot.
In the main Hill was again plagued by bad luck early in the contest, starting well outside the top ten and having to charge through a field of the best supercross racers in the world in order to move up. He’d eventually have better luck than Lawrence, who’d have a run-in with Brock Hepler battling for 4th place on the second lap. Another collision would bend Lawrence’s front brake rotor – which would end his evening.
Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Laninovich also got out slowly at the start, but dug in and worked hard to make it back into the top ten – racing on the lead lap through much of the contest in finishing 10th. Hill was on fire, though, and put up the fifth-fastest lap time in the main in charging all the way to 4th place.
Monster Energy Supercross takes a two week break here for the Easter holiday before returning to action April 18 in Seattle for round 15 of the series.
Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it SX, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, rock crawling, wake, mini bikes, surf, snow, BMX – name it – the athletes are rockin’ Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, Monster’s fruit juice hybrid dubbed “M-80,” the party-friendly MIXXD, the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream drink line supercharged with our Monster Energy blend, along with the new Monster Energy “Hitman” energy shot. The Monster Energy guys running the Monster Energy Supercross series dig ‘em – so will you. On the ‘Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com
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