Brayton and Sipes Top St. Louis SX Qualifying
Cycle News Staff | April 17, 2010
ST. LOUIS (April 17, 2010) – Timed qualifying at the St. Louis Supercross provided some surprises with Justin Brayton (Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGR Yamaha) topping Supercross qualifying, while Ryan Sipes (Moto Concepts Yamaha) led in Supercross Lites. It marked the first time for both riders to top qualifying in their respective classes.”I’ve topped qualifying in Supercross Lites, but never in Supercross,” said Brayton, the 25-year-old Iowa native who comes into St. Louis ranked seventh in the standings. “I felt like I’ve had good speed all day and hopefully I can take that into tonight and throw down some consistent fast laps.”Brayton blistered the technical Edward Jones Dome circuit in 51.025 seconds, bettering points leader Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey (51.142) and last week’s winner Ryan Villopoto, who clocked a 51.578 on his Monster Energy Kawasaki. The top five riders in the Supercross class where in the 51-second bracket, with Honda riders Davi Millsaps (51.903) and Kevin Windham (51.931) also turning laps within a second of Brayton.”I put in several laps that were right up there,” Brayton continued. “It wasn’t just one lap out of nowhere. I’ve been fast all day. The track is very technical and that’s the way Supercross should be. It’s not your typical cookie-cutter basic track. It has tough whoops and tough rhythms in there and that’s the way I like it.”Lites leader Sipes said his speed didn’t really feel that much different from any other weekend. “I just put it together today for some reason,” said the Kentuckian, who is sixth in the Lites East standings coming into that series’ finale. It’s tacky and there are a lot sections that are really big that kind of separate people. If you don’t hit everything just right you’re not going to get a good time. I kind of pieced together a good lap.”Sipes (52.350) was the only Lites rider to lap into the 52-second bracket. His time would have placed him sixth in the Supercross class.Dean Wilson recorded the second best time of the Lites session with a 53.492 on his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Martin Davalos clocked a 53.752 to earn third on the Star Racing Yamaha. Newly crowned champ Christophe Pourcel was fourth fastest, in spite of spending much of the qualifying sessions cruising around at low speed. Kyle Cunningham rounded out the top five in Lites.
