Rocket Exhaust rider Michael Leib is back on the bike and getting honed in for his return to the west coast sx series. Michael is planning to make his return at Seattle.

   After last year's debut season racing AMA Supercross with one rider, Rocket Exhaust fielded a 3 riders team for Anaheim 1 in 2013.  Michael Leib in his second season racing AMA Supercross was looking to build on his results from last season.  Also in the 250 class Chris Proscelle was moving up from the Amateur ranks and competing in his first supercross.  The most experienced rider on the team is PJ Larsen however this is his rookie season in the 450 class and he is looking for results at the top of the sport. 

     The day started tough for Leib as he had a small electrical problem causing him to miss the first practice this forced him to learn the track during the timed practice which damaged his qualifying effort however he easily made the night show with a good gate pick for the heat.  Chris Proscelle has a steep learning curve ahead of him to make the jump from amateur racing to professional supercross.  He put in some competitive times in Qualifying but unfortunately just missed out on the top 40 that make it to the night show.  PJ Larsen was one of the fastest riders in his group for qualifying and made it to the night show easily. 

    The night started great for Team Rocket Exhaust as Michael Leib pulled a 2nd place start in his heat race and battled hard to hold on for 4th place and a good gate pick for the main event.  PJ Larsen did not have so much luck as he was definitely in the toughest heat race of the night and with a bad start had too much work to do for the short 8 lap race.  He worked his way up to 12th by the flag, this sent him to the LCQ where a bad start ended PJ's run to qualify for the main event.

     At the start of the 250 main event Michael got some wheel spin off of the gate and was pinched off going into the first turn however he tucked in tight as the field went wide and came out in 3rd place.  After battling for a couple of laps Michael was sat comfortably in 6th place with a nice gap behind him.  On lap 5 Michael got sideways in the whoops and missed the triple jump, this let Travis Baker by.  Michael was now in a 6 rider battle for places 6th through 12th.  Michael held on strong for a 10th place finish, some valuable championship points and a great start to build on heading in to Phoenix next week.  See you at Chase Field!

   What a roller coaster 2 weeks it has been since we decided to race the Monster Energy Cup.  We had a 3 rider team the week before the event however Weston Peick crashed on Wednesday ending his hopes with a concussion.  Team Rocket Exhaust arrived Saturday morning with our remaining 2 riders PJ Larsen and Brady Kiesel.  The day was going well as both bikes went through technical inspection well under the sound limits and all was set for a good qualifying session.  Unfortunately somewhere between technical inspection and first practice PJ's bike developed an electrical issue.  With only 3 days testing on the 2013 Honda it was a scramble to figure out what was wrong.  However there was not enough time and this issue put PJ out for the night.  On a positive note our 2013 CRF exhaust system with twin carbon mufflers was a huge hit in the pits and they are now available on our website.

    Brady Kiesel was the last Rocket Exhaust rider left as we entered the night show and he had qualified strong in 11th place.  A great start in moto one left him battling with the front runners and a great charge put him 4th at the end of the moto.  In Moto 2 there was carnage in the first turn with Shane MCElrath who wont the first moto and Brady emerged from turn two in 2nd place.  We knew it was going to be tight as Brady had a shot at the overall.  Unfortunately he lost the front end in a turn and dropped back but still battled on for a 9th place finish putting him 5th overall.  A great result and what is one of the biggest and most stacked amateur races of the year!

Rocket Exhaust is pleased to announce that PJ Larsen will be racing a specially prepared 2013 CRF450R at the Monster Energy Cup this weekend sponsored by Rocket Exhaust and Race SoCal. PJ's 2013 season ended early with a knee injury and he has been back on a bike for the last two months. 

PJ Larsen "I was asked by Rocket Exhaust to help test their single and dual exhausts for the new Honda and of course I was eager to ride the new bike. I immediately felt comfortable on the Honda, I loved the chassis but the motor was pretty flat. The Rocket systems I tested really woke the bike up and I thought to myself that this bike would be competitive. I spoke to Don at Rocket and Stephen Heighton at Race SoCal, who owns the bikes, and we struck a one race deal for the MEC. Since then Rocket has built up the motor and it rips. I feel really comfortable on the 450 and am looking forward to this weekend".

Don Leib "It's been a whirlwind month since we decided to build a bike for PJ but I know that designing an engine and exhaust system to satisfy a rider of his caliber will give us a head start on our development. I'm really looking forward to the MEC this weekend. Having Weston Peick running our exhaust and race motor, Brady Kiesel in the A/B class racing Michael Leib's SX bike and PJ Larsen debuting our carbon/carbon dual exhaust and race motor will give us plenty to cheer for. We're also using this coming weekend to kick off the introduction of our new design exhaust system which we have been working on for the past six months. Check out www.rocketexhaust.com and or let us know you you have any questions about our exhaust systems and or race motors".

We have a new KX450F exhaust for the 2013 model. Which can be purchased HERE. The stock power is very good, probably the best of the new stock 450's. But we wanted to improve it. Making more power is usually not that difficult to achieve. It's how you make the power that's important. To improve the KX450F we made the power more broad and linear which makes the added power easy to apply with the throttle. Test rider BJ Burns and Wes Turner gave the final design a big thumbs up.

The most anticipated new model release in recent years has to be the 2013 CRF450R. We have a unique opportunity to design both a single and a dual system. It's doubtful that you will see a single system from the big three competitors due to the fact that Honda will pressure their racing partners to promote the dual system. Aside from the controversy of which is better one thing for sure it is easier to adhere to the newer 2 Meter Max sound requirement for professional racing with the duals. AMA pros PJ Larsen, who will be racing a Race SoCal/Rocket Exhaust 2013 CRF450R at the Monster Energy Cup, and Weston Peick were enlisted to do the final testing of the dual full system and slip-on full systems and the single full system and slip-on. The stock power is off the mark compared to the KX450F in our opinion. Thankfully the engine is not the problem. Compression, piston, valve train design and production cylinder head porting configuration are very good. The stock exhaust is very restrictive. Making more power was not the problem, making the power broad, linear and easy to apply was the goal. PJ and Weston were most concerned about improving the bottom. I'm happy to report that the single and dual systems work amazing putting the Honda on par with the Rocket Exhaust equipped 2013 KX450F. In the end the single full system has more hit than the dual system and is slightly preferred over the Rocket dual system but the difference is very close. The duals are quieter and frankly look very cool, especially in carbon. The 2013 Honda CRF450 setup is available for purchase HERE.