US Supercross Lites West Series: 3rd round Anaheim, CA
As the evening began, MDK KTM Lites rider Billy Laninovich and MDK KTM support rider Drew Gooselaar lined up for Heat #1. Both riders had a decent jump from the gate. Gooselaar rounded turn one in fourth while Laninovich was two spots back in 6th. Laninovich quickly moved into 5th and held that position through the finish. Gooselaar qualified for his first main event by finishing 7th in the heat.MDK KTM Lites rider Justin Brayton got ready for Heat #2. He was second around the first turn and then passed for the lead for a brief second before the hard charging #338 bike of Jason Lawrence made the pass for first. Brayton stayed close and rode in second looking to repeat his Anaheim 1 heat race. Unfortunately, he accidentally stalled his bike on lap 4 losing only three positions. He got the bike started on the second kick and began closing back in on the 3rd and 4th place riders. He passed for 4th on lap 5 and moved into 3rd on the last lap, qualifying into the main.
At 9:16pm the Lites gate dropped with Laninovich and Brayton both getting pushed out around the first turn sending them to the back of the pack. Laninovich had moved up to 9th and Brayton to 12th by the end of the first lap. Brayton soon passed two riders to move up behind his teammate. The two MDK KTM Lites riders rode together for a couple laps before Brayton moved around Laninovich taking over 9th place. Brayton soon began battling with the #45 bike of Bob Kiniry for the second half of the race; getting past him with four laps to go. Brayton was now in 7th closing in on 6th when a last lap crash laid him down. He remounted and was able to salvage a top ten finish with a ninth place overall. His teammate, Laninovich, finished 7th.
MDK KTM Lites Team Manager, Danny Paladino commented, "Both boys had a rough start tonight but were able to catch up to the lead pack rather quickly. It's unfortunate that Justin crashed but he was able to stay in the top ten which will help him in the points. Billy is getting stronger every weekend and I know once we work on his starts he will be a front runner."
