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Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Byrne 2nd, Suzuki's Cooper 3rd at
Unadilla MX
News release
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing's Michael Byrne enjoyed his best
result of the 2008 AMA Motocross season after bringing home a second-place
finish at Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, New York, on Sunday
afternoon. Byrne raced his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 to second-
and third-place moto finishes to get his second overall podium of the
season. Suzuki City/OTSFF/Rockstar Suzuki's Cody Cooper joined Byrne on
the box, picking up his first Pro MX podium. The satellite team rider
posted fifth- and second-place moto finishes to bring home the final
podium spot. Byrne is currently in fourth place overall in the
championship points standings, while Cooper is in eighth place.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Mike Alessi is currently recovering from a recent
crash at Red Bud and did not race.
In the Motocross Lites class, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey
celebrated his fifth podium of the season after carding two second-place
moto finishes for second overall. Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate
Nico Izzi brought home eighth- and fifth-place moto finishes for a
fourth-place overall result. Dungey is currently in second place
overall in the championship, while Izzi is in fifth place.
Michael Byrne:
"Unadilla is a track I've always enjoyed. The layout's similar
to what I've grown up with - not the rocks and the soil, but the layout of
the track is like what I raced growing up. The track made a few
changes this year and I liked them a lot. In the first moto, I got a
really good start -- the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 is working really
good right now and the team is working really hard - I just missed the
holeshot but I was right there in second. I heard there was a pretty
good battle behind me but I just tried to keep my head down and ride as
hard as I could. I got second in that moto and I was pretty pumped.
Then, it started raining really hard and I'm not really a fan of the rain.
I didn't get the best start, though I was able to work my way up. Luckily
for me, I'd gone with intermediate tires and that paid out for me.
In the end, I could barely see but I managed to get into third and I just
tried to survive until the end."
Cody Cooper:
"It was good to get my first AMA Motocross podium -- obviously I'm
happy with how it went. This is my first year racing here, so I'd
never been at Unadilla and in the first moto, I found out how rocky the
place was. I got an average start, and hit some rocks and ended up
with fifth. I think the rain helped in the second moto because I got
a better start in the re-start. I suppose I feel pretty comfortable
racing in the rain, but that second re-start helped out a lot. It
was quite muddy and definitely if you got a bad start it would have been
hard to come through. I managed to see first place the whole race so
I'm real happy over that. I'm hoping for another podium, next weekend -
only this time without the rain. I know my confidence is up, and I
just need to keep working on my starts so I can race with the guys who are
at the front."
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