It was a tough weekend for the Two Stroke Motocross – Sikk Shades team at the Muddy Creek National. The first round came up on us quick, some back ordered parts, shipping delays and a few other issues made it come down the last-minute. Smith and Sottile weren’t comfortable with limited time on the bikes, so they did not race. Sottile did run his 450, but did not qualify due to mechanical failure.
With 2 riders out, we picked up Nathan LaPorte on the spot to run one of our bikes.This was very last-minute, PowerSport Grafx rushed us over some number plates Saturday morning, we barely made it through tech inspection in time. With no testing/tuning time on this bike Nathan took it out for the first practice and struggled a bit with the unfamiliar bike. He picked it up quite a bit in the 2nd practice after some jetting (fuel Issues) and suspension adjustments. We will be testing/tuning with him this week to get him ready to qualify for High Point next weekend.
Robby Marshall went out in the first practice as well and struggled a bit due to the jetting issues, Cycle Playground made the same changes to his bike as Nathan’s.
Marshall took the 250SX 2 Stroke out for the 2nd 450 A group practice and laid down a 2:09.373 to qualify in 16th place just above James Stewart and Chad Reed on the Factory 450′s!
On the 3rd lap of the main event Marshall was moving up quickly through the pack (top 20 or so) hit Canard’s downed bike and took a spill resulting in a trip to the Asterisk unit with a separated shoulder.
Even though the weekend didn’t go quite as planned, we feel that we accomplished what we set out to do. Showing the public that a 250cc 2 stroke is a very capable and competitive machine for pro racing against the 450′s in the right hands.
There were lot’s of people with a negative outlook and doubts about this 2 Stroke effort. We learned a lot, had some fun and made a bit of history. The fans were amazing. Thank you guys for the support! We will continue growing our effort bringing the two-strokes back to Professional Motocross Racing. See you next weekend in PA!
We will be announcing our rider line-up for High Point soon, stay tuned!
Marshall airing it out! Photo Cred: Racer X
Marshall and Barcia during press day – Racer X
Robby Marshall nailing the Bomber on the 250SX. Photo: Racer X
Thanks to MX Sports for having us out for Press Day, check out the MXPTV Press Day Video here, some great shots of Robby on the KTM.
We can’t thank our sponsors enough for the support! If your brand is interested in supporting our effort, Contact Us.
Sikk Shades By Eddie Bauer Jr.
Prayer’s for Robby Marshall #82, heal up quick bud!
