Hurst 32nd at Miller

From Slednecks Racing

SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- Slednecks racer and California Superbike School coach Misti Hurst finished 32nd out of 39 riders in the Sunday morning AMA Supersport Race last weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. Teammate and fellow riding coach Josh Galster finished 18th, his third consecutive top 20 finish.

Running the full course configuration for the first time, both Hurst and Galster, on their 2007 Kawasaki ZX6Rs had to learn the tricky 26-turn track in only a few practice sessions. Hurst struggled with the triple apex corners in the infield and by the end of Thursday's practice session was still over 10 seconds off the pace that she would need in order to even make the grid. On Friday, she took nine seconds off her previous time for a 3:09.9, but still needed two seconds more in order to make the race.

"I missed out of the race last year because there were so many guys trying to make the show," she said. "Even though I made the cut off time no problem, I was 47th and they only take 44 for the grid. I was determined to make the cut this year, whatever it took."

On Saturday morning Hurst went out on her EDR-prepped, Dunlop-shod Kawasaki and in her second lap banged out a 3:06.9, which would easily qualify her for the race.

On the grid in 39th position, Hurst rocketed off the start and gained 13 positions by turn 1. The only female rider in the race, Hurst stayed up in 26th place for the first two laps before being passed by some of the top privateers in the AMA. She rode strong and smooth and got down to a best time of 3:05.2 before crossing the finish line in 32nd position.

Slednecks teammate, Galster qualified in 29th position with a time of 3:02.1, even after missing out of 25 minutes of qualifying due to an electrical issue.

Gaslter also got an incredible start and by turn one was in 24th position. From there he began to pick off riders one by one for the remainder of the race. Galster finished 18th, his third top 20 finish in the AMA Supersport Series this year with an incredible time of 2:59.8. This puts him in 16th position overall with 53 points and well in the hunt for the AMA Supersport Rookie of the Year Award.