Lawrence Wins First Lites Moto
Kit Palmer | May 25, 2008
Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence won the first moto in the MX Lites class at the Glen Helen MX Championship opener after taking the holeshot and leading the whole way. However, Lawrence had a couple of green bikes chasing him the whole way (and a Suzuki), and when it was all over, Lawrence held on to take the win by less than a second over Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe. Right behind him finished Stroupe’s teammate Brett Metcalfe, while Makita/Rockstar Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey finished fourth.
Lawrence got a great jump off the gate and parlayed that into the holeshot. He opened up a small lead over a battling Metcalfe, Stroupe and Dungey. The three riders stayed close to each other through out the moto, until Dungey dropped off the pace a bit after making a couple of small mistakes. Metcalfe held second for much of the 30-minute plus two-lap moto until Stroupe got him a few laps before the end.
Fifth went to defending champ Ryan Villopoto who got off to a midpack start and had to playg catch-up the whole way. Sixth went to Matt Lemoine, followed by Jake Weimer, Nicco Izzi, Branden Jesseman and Kyle Cunningham.
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.
