ANAHEIM, Calif. – Red Bull/KTM Factory Team rider Marvin Musquin earned 4th overall at the opening round of the AMA West Supercross Lites Series which also served as his professional Supercross racing debut.
The Frenchman traveled to the US to race as a member of the Red Bull/KTM Team at the end of 2010 and was injured in an unfortunate accident during an international race which disabled him from competing at any of the Supercross rounds. After a full-year to recover, Musquin showed up at Angel Stadium both excited and nervous. “I am so happy to be racing here in the U.S.” remarked Musquin. “This has always been my dream and I can’t wait to actually race at this stadium in front of the sold out crowd.”
Musquin turned heads during the morning practice sessions when he turned the fastest lap time in the second practice and ended up 6th fastest at the end of the final session. His qualifying time placed him in the second heat of the night.
Musquin rounded the first corner in 5th in his heat and quickly moved into 4th after passing Travis Baker before the end of the first lap. He continued to improve his pace and soon found himself in 3rd position where he would finish and easily qualify into the main event.
Unfortunately, the 30-second board girl turned the board early during the Supercross Lites main event which caused many riders to engage their clutch for double the normal time which badly affected many riders starts. Musquin was one rider who mentioned the issue but he still managed to pull a near mid-pack start around 11th place. He spent the next few laps catching and passing riders and was in 7th place by the third lap.
Continuing his charge through the pack, Musquin picked off Ryan Sipes on the sixth lap to move into 6th position. Wil Hahn crashed on the next lap to hand Musquin 5th place. Musquin held that position through the remainder of the race until Dean Wilson crashed on the final lap allowing Musquin to again capitalize on the mistake and gain a position. Musquin went on to finish 4th overall in his first U.S. Supercross Lites race.
“I am very happy tonight. I finally raced in my first Supercross event and I am happy with 4th overall. I was lucky some of the riders made mistakes tonight but overall I felt really good and my bike was great,” remarked Musquin.
Next Event: Phoenix, AZ – January 14, 2012
Overall Results –
Cole Seely
Tyla Rattray
Eli Tomac
Marvin Musquin – KTM
Ryan Sipes
Dean Wilson
Jason Anderson
Wil Hahn
Zach Osborne
Travis Baker
Matt Moss – KTM
Nico Izzi
Teddy Maier
Billy Laninovich
Vince Friese
Max Anstie
Ryan Marmont – KTM
Jackson Richardson
Martin Davalos
Christian Craig
