Riverside, CA (January 18, 2009) - Paul Carpenter and Bobby Kiniry went into Angel Stadium looking to put the Monster Energy Cernic's Kawasaki KX450F's into the Supercross Main Event. Both riders qualified for the Main Event and Carpenter expanded his Privateer Challenge point lead in front of the 43,009 fans in attendance. In fact, the Monster Energy Cernic's Kawasaki team was only one of a handful of teams to qualify at least two riders to the Main Event, and the only Privateer team to accomplish the task.
The qualifying heat races saw mixed results for the two Monster Energy Cernic's Kawasaki riders. Kiniry got caught up in a first-turn pileup in his heat race and was forced to go to the Last Chance Qualifier. Carpenter was in the second heat race and started up front with the leaders. He held on to finish in fifth place to qualify for the Main Event.
Kiniry pulled the holeshot in the Last Chance Qualifier and had a brief battle with the second place rider. He eventually pulled out to a commanding lead and easily won the LCQ to qualify for the Main Event. "We had some bad luck in the heat race so we came into the LCQ ready to win," commented Kiniry. "I've felt good all day and rode really well in practice so it is kind of disappointing to go the LCQ. But we got the Monster Energy Cernic's Kawasaki in the Main Event so I'm happy about that."
In the Supercross Main Event, Kiniry entered turn one with the leaders despite his poor gate pick. However, as the pack was going through the slow first turn of the Anaheim track, he was slammed from behind and knocked into another rider. Both riders went down and it took some time for Kiniry to get going again. After fighting through the pack, he hit a rider that had suddenly slowed on the track and went down again. He went on to salvage some championship points and finished in nineteenth position.
On the other hand, Carpenter got a bad start in the Main Event but managed to pass numerous riders as he finished the first lap in eleventh position. Carpenter rode a steady race and had a great battle with another rider for most of the race. He eventually passed the rider and finished in eleventh position, just behind two factory riders. "Overall, we had a pretty good weekend even though I didn't finish in the top ten," said Carpenter. "Getting a good start was so important because the track was so difficult to pass on. Obviously, I didn't get the best start but I felt like I rode pretty well."
The Monster Energy Cernic's Kawasaki Racing Team will travel to Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX next week for round two of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series on January 24, 2009.
Team Sponsors
Monster Energy - Cernic's - Kawasaki Motors Corp
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