Root River Racing’s
Josh Upperman Top Five at Daytona
Root River Racing
Pro ATV SX Race Report
La Crosse, WI (3/17/2017) - Root
River Racing’s Pro racers Josh Upperman and Dylan
Tremellen competed at the 2017 AMA ATV Daytona
Supercross in Daytona, FL. Upperman had a solid
start to the season with a fifth place finish,
and the Pro class rookie of Tremellen had a strong
debut in twelfth place.
|
RRR's Josh
Upperman had a solid start to the season
with a fifth place finish
|
The man behind the successful Root River Racing
team, Rich Gillette, changed pace this year by
drastically decreasing the size of the team. Root
River Racing now consists of four riders in total,
two pro racers and two amateur racers. The transformation
now allows him to devote more time and energy
to the fewer riders he has, while decreasing stress
on himself.
“The new team setup is a lot simpler. The last
two years have put a lot of pressure on myself
to coordinate and handle the amount of people
in our pits. I just realized it was time to take
some stress off of me. I can actually have time
to relax and enjoy being at the race track now,”
explained Gillette.
|
Root River
Racing's Pro ATV Motocross Team (left
to right)
Josh Upperman & Dylan Tremellen
|
There is no doubt Gillette enjoyed his time at
the track while watching Upperman grab the heat
race holeshot and run away with win aboard his
Root River Racing Honda. Upperman changed things
up this season by going back to his former engine
builder, Mark Baldwin with Baldwin Motorsports.
The change seemed to suite him well.
Upperman was off to a great start and feeling
good going into the main event. “It was definitely
a confidence booster,” said Upperman. When the
gate dropped for the main, Upperman shot off to
another great start in second place, and eventually
finished in fifth. “I made a couple little mistakes
but all in all it was a good weekend,” stated
Upperman.
|
Josh Upperman
grabbed the heat race holeshot and ran
away with win aboard his Root River Racing
Honda
|
Dylan Tremellen ran the same heat race as his
teammate Upperman, and worked his way up through
the pack to a fourth place heat race finish, setting
himself up well for the main event where he battled
his way to twelfth. “It’s not quite where I want
to be, but considering I didn’t get to ride much
over the winter I am happy with it,” said Tremellen.
With the sandy track at Daytona, Tremellen’s
Hoosier Tires were the key to his success. “The
Hoosier Tires are awesome. This is the second
year we are running them. They are all willing
to do whatever we need,” explained Tremellen.
|
Dylan Tremellen
ran the same heat race as his teammate
Upperman, and worked his way up to a fourth
place finish
|
Tremellen’s younger brother, Logan, also rides
with Root River Racing in the amateur ranks, and
the two are very grateful to have the support
of Gillette and the Root River Racing team once
again this season. “I can’t be more thankful to
Rich. We are just really thankful for everything
he does. We could never repay him for what he
does for us,” stated Tremellen.
Gillette was proud of the opening round performance
from both of his pro racers, saying, “I was very
happy with all of my riders. I thought that they
did very well. Coming into the race Josh Upperman
informed me that he was absolutely ecstatic about
his machine. He felt he was in tip-top shape to
be right up there in the front, and he showed
that. As for Dylan making his pro debut, I felt
that he did a great job and put excellent effort
in there.”
The Pro Root River Racing teammates will return
to ATV Motocross National Championship racing
action at the second round of the season. Racing
will be held April 1-2 at Underground MX Park
in Kemp, TX.
|