Grand Rapids Arena Cross Round 1 AMA National AX Series

Round one of the 2010 AX series is in the books and we are really happy about our start to the series. Both riders rode great all weekend and really showed that all the hard work over the past few months had payed off.

Dano Aulseybrook, who rode a few rounds for GPF last year, came out swinging on night one. After a mid pack start Dano moved his was thru the pack and by the white flag had caught the leader but ran out of laps but recorded his first podium finish with a 2nd place and gained some much needed confidence. On the second night Dano got off to a better start but quickly got bottled up in the whoops and went down. Dano put his head down and charged from last to 5th place by race end. Dano currently sits 2nd in the Lites East points and will be a favorite to win the rest of the series.

Team GPF's second rider is AJ Catanzaro. Grand Rapids was AJ's first ever expert race as he just raced B a little over a month ago at Mini o's so needless to say AJ was on a steep learning curve all weekend but proved he is ready to run with the big dogs. AJ came out hard on night one. Starting midpack he worked his was to the front and found himself in 3rd place with a few laps to go. Nerves got the best of him and AJ pumped up a little. He gave up 3rd spot to Tyler Bright but was able to hang on for a solid 4th place. On night two AJ started midpack again but worked his way up quickly to 4th. AJ got into a battle with Cory Green for a few laps when Cory ran it in on AJ causing both riders to go down. AJ remounted in nearly last but managed to pass a few guys and work his way up to 12th. AJ is signed up for Lites West points which doesn't start for a few weeks so he can use these next few rounds to get some much needed experience.

It was a great first weekend for Team GPF and I can't thank all of you enough for your support in making this season happen. The bikes are awesome and we look forward to the rest of the season.

-Josh Woods