American PJ Larsen won the Auckland round to take over the series point lead for JDR Motorex KTM. Image: Sport The Library.

A sterling Lites class round victory in Auckland has propelled American PJ Larsen back to the top of the Super X Lites point standings, setting up an epic title fight for the remainder of the 2010 season as the JDR Motorex KTM team scored its first ever 1-2 finish.

Larsen reclaimed the Lites class series lead in the series, capturing his second overall victory of the season in Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday night.

“It was a good night tonight and I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” Larsen, originally from South Carolina, commented. “To win two of the three finals was awesome and I’m really happy to take over the points lead – I’m pumped to keep improving on areas of my riding.”

Larsen won the opening final of the Triple Challenge main event by an impressive 4.169 seconds and then finished third in final number two, before his race three victory by 3.940 seconds gave him a superb round win overall.

The round victory means Larsen now leads the series by nine points over arch-rival Matt Moss with three rounds remaining.

Teammate Ryan Marmont made it an incredible 1-2 finish for the JDR Motorex KTM team in the Lites, slotting into second overall after positing 4-2-4 results in the three main events to make it a pair of 2011 model KTM 250SX-Fs atop the podium.

Marmont’s result maintains third in the series, sitting 34 points behind leader Larsen, and he’s confident that he can post his first victory of the season in the coming rounds in a bid to stay in the hunt for the title.

“I had a great night and the track was really technical,” Wollongong resident Marmont said.

“We just had to do the simple things right tonight – get good starts and stay consistent – and I was able to do that to take second place. There are still a lot of points up for grabs, so we’ll chip away and keep working week in, week out.”

Team manager Jay Rynenberg was proud of the team’s performance, marking a night of firsts in the team’s most successful Super X event yet.

“The Lites class results were excellent tonight and the boys rode really well,” Rynenberg explained. “PJ rode his own race and I think he proved that he’s the top guy in the championship, while Ryan rode really consistently as well.

“We’re walking out of here with the championship lead for PJ and Ryan is a strong third, so it’s great.”