JDR/J-Star/KTM’s PJ Larsen put together a top five performance at the fifth round of the AMA East Lites Supercross Series in Jacksonville, FL where he earned fifth overall for the night.

The reigning Australian Pro Lites Super X and MX Nationals champion continues to gather momentum in his U.S. return, matching his best result of the season to date.

Larsen’s day went well right from the start of the night show. In his heat, Larsen got off to a great start within the top three. He stuck close to Matt Lemoine who was in 2nd position behind Dean Wilson.

As they neared the halfway point, Larsen was all over the rear wheel of Lemoine. He continued to pressure Lemoine through the six lap heat eventually crossing the line in 3rd position to earn a great gate pick for the main event.

“I had a good heat race. I was able to grab a decent start and put myself up front early,” Larsen explained.

“I would have liked to pick up one more spot but it was safer to finish third and get a spot on the main event gate rather than make a last second attempt and risking a crash to pick up second in the heat.”

In the main event, Larsen started about 15th. He was able to avoid a first lap pile up and moved into the top 10 after the first lap. By lap two he had moved up to eighth. On the third lap he was able to move up one more position after Blake Wharton crashed in the whoops.

The next lap he passed Hunter Hewitt to move up to sixth. He spent the remainder of the race reeling in Darryn Durham. Larsen made the pass for 5th position on the second to last lap and matched his best finish so far this season.

In the Supercross class, Larsen’s Aussie teammate Tye Simmonds suffered a horrible crash in his heat in the rhythm section right after the start straight.

Simmonds did not finish the race and returned to the truck for further evaluation. He was able to get his bike prepped and gather some strength to get back to the track for the LCQ.

Unfortunately, he suffered a terrible start and was only able to make his way up to 10th by the end of the LCQ, missing out on a main event starting position.