Supercross

Kyle Peters Impresses at St. Louis Supercross with Season Best Finish

Weston Peick scores another top-five to cement himslef in the 450SX top six

Posted:

Wednesday, March 21st, 2018

12:39 AM

Kyle Peters had his best result of the season so far with 4th in the 250SX East Main Event at St. Louis.

Kyle Peters had his best result of the season at St. Louis for round 11 of the 2018 Monster Energy AMA/ FIM World Supercross series on Saturday night.

The Autotrader/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing rider continues to improve at every round of the 250 East Supercross series and put an increased focus on his starts during the week leading up to St. Louis.

His hard work paid off, taking the holeshot his heat race and started inside the top five in the Main Event. He was one of a few to execute a tricky quad jump, and his heroics earned him fourth place on the night. Peters moved from ninth to sixth place in the overall 250 East championship standings, just two points out of fifth place.

I worked hard in the Main Event and came away with fourth. My riding was so much better than it has been. I‰Ûªm riding more like myself. It was a confidence booster to get that monkey off my back
Kyle Peters

‰ÛÏOverall, it was a great weekend. I made a lot of improvements in bringing a typical practice day to a race day situation," Peters explained. "I qualified well and my times were close. Heading into the night show Buddy Antunez helped me with a few things, which really helped.

"I holeshot my heat race, which was great, but I rode a little tight and finished second. I worked hard in the Main Event and came away with fourth. My riding was so much better than it has been. I‰Ûªm riding more like myself. It was a confidence booster to get that monkey off my back.

‰ÛÏThe quad was possibly the biggest jump I‰Ûªve ever hit on a Supercross track. Stewart was the first guy to do it. Jeremy Albrecht and Buddy told me that there were going to be 250 guys doing it, and that I should go for it. I sized it up a few times, but I never even hit it until the heat race. That was the first time I sent it. The transition got a little choppy in the Main Event. Halfway through the race I did it, and there was a rider down on the landing. I landed just as a track worker was picking up the rider‰Ûªs bike and I clipped his handlebars. That was a scary moment!‰Û

Weston Peick has been the model of consistency in the 450SX class and a 5th in St. Louis. sees him in 6th in the standings.

After spending the week testing at the Autotrader/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing Team headquarters, Peters' team-mate Weston Peick was ready to improve on his sixth-place finish at Daytona. He did just that, cutting through the field on his RM-Z450 in the Main Event to finish fifth. It was his fourth top-five of the series and he now sits sixth in the overall 450 championship standings.

‰ÛÏSt. Louis went much better for me than the week before in Daytona, where I dealt with sickness and the crash in Atlanta," Peick said. "I rode well in practice. I came from 10th to fifth in the heat race. In the Main Event I wanted to be safe and stay on the inside, so I chose a gate that had a big pot hole in front of it. I didn‰Ûªt get the best drive, but I made some good passes and fought my way up. I held strong and ended the night in fifth. I felt strong and am back in the right direction to where I was in the early part of the series.

‰ÛÏBefore the night show we stiffened up the suspension, because there were some deep ruts. That worked in my favour. As for the quad jump, I didn‰Ûªt think anyone would do it. Then Malcolm did it, so that encouraged me to go for it. It was an easy jump. I just had to make sure I gave it enough gas to get over it. The rhythm three-three-three jump section before the finish line was more difficult than the quad.‰Û

After logging the fastest qualifying time Malcolm Stewart's night crumbled when he was involved in a crash and the resulting injury hampered his night.