Leivan explained. "It is one of the most difficult to make up time on, though, so I was trying to push him into a mistake and then try to
capitalize."
Forrester seemed up to the task, and he
maintained the lead heading into the pits after
three laps. Both he and Leivan stopped for
fuel, with Leivan getting out first. As Forrester
took off, he noticed that his dry-break had
stuck open and the plastic dust cover was
allowing fuel to spill out. He headed back to
the pits and re inserted his quick-fill can,
allowing the cap to close, but the KawasBki
rider had lost about 30 seconds.
Unaware of any of this, Leivan had his first
lead of the day and was picking up the pace.
Three and a half miles into the fourth lap,
Leivan got word from a course worker that
Forrester had fallen back. Knowing that the
course isn't easy to make up time on, Leiven
kept a quick and steady pace and headed into
the last lap with a leBd of just over 30 seconds
on Forrester.
Thiele had recovered from his early spill
and had come out on top of a battle with Chris
Nesbitt to hold on to third, a minute and 20
seconds off the lead. While baWing with Thiele
late during the fourth lap, Nesbitt hit a root
and bounced into a barbed-wire fence. His
10<250 landed on top of him, with the exhaust
pipe resting nicely on his foreanm. Nesbitt reentered the event with a liWe less motivation
thBn he'd started with.
Up front, Leivan had all the motivation he
needed, knowing that another good lap would
4
equal victory. He picked up the pace on his
Silkolene/Dunlop/Answer/UFO/Tsubakibacked four-stroke and turned in the fastest
lap of the day to claim his second victory of
the season. Forrester dealt with his problems
very well and finished in the runner-up position, 44 seconds down, while Thiele rounded
Nesbitt overcame his trouble for fourth,
while David Taylor put in his best ride of 2002
for fifth overall and the A-class victory. Taylor
and fellow KTM pilot Tracy Bauman battled
throughout the event for class runner-up honors, but their pace allowed them to reel in
leader Rick Matteson going into the last lap.
Taylor made his move quickly, took the lead,
and left the other two to argue over second.
Stone fought his way back to sixth, with Matteson seventh and Bauman eighth.
Show M. Hare Scramble.
Tebbetts, Missouri
Results: July 14, 2002 (Round 10J
01": 1. Steve Lelvan (Yam); 2. Brandon FOrTeSter (Kaw); 3
Chris llUda (Kaw), •. eMs """'" (...); 5. 0."'" Taylo< (KTM), 6
Doug SIona (Hon), 7. Rod< Mo...... (Kaw), 8. Trtbell (KTM); 2. Rick WheIow (KTM): 3. R~
Caplinger (Yam); 4. BiIIy.Johtwon (Yam); 5. Frank I...efyan (Yam).
OPEl'( C: 1. Brad Swasand (Yam): 2. Damian Mahon~ (Hon); 3.
TIm Browne (Hon); 4. Kurt Sdtaben (Hon); 5 Charles Parisi (Kaw).
200 Co I. Joe W-.a (Kaw), 2. lock ....am (....1' 3.........
SmIth (Hon): ....... No.1 (s.,,), 5. Nick w~.. (KTM).
JR: 1, Jusbn Veith (Kaw); 2. Jeremy Hansen (Kaw); 3. Ryan
Portell (Kaw); 4. Umc:e Hees (Suz); 5. Brent Newberry (Kaw).
WMl'l.: 1. Amanda Lappe (KTM); 2. Donna Moore (KTM); 3.
Rebeca Jackson (Kaw); 4. Cindy Barnett (Hon).
BEO: I. Dale ~[ntosh (Hon); 2. Jim Williams (Kaw); 3 Ben
K~ (Yam); 4. Jeff Rothenberger (Yam); 5. RIck &niSI (Han).
SuperBikers2 - Motard Challenge Series
Round 4: Briggs & Stratton Motorplex
· I
Ben Carlson - A galn.By GLENN CURTlSS
-----------------ELKHART LAKE, WI, JULY 14
"I finally got the holeshot." said Ben Carlson,
who took a conVincing win to make it three
Premier-class wins in a row.
The fourth round of the SuperBikers2
Motard ChBllenge Series was Bgain held at the
very picturesque setting of the Briggs & Stratton Motorple~ inside the even more famous
Road America roadcourse in Elkhart Lake,
Wisconsin. The sun, a large contingent
of spectators, along with some exciting
supenmotard action, made for a very hot day
out the top three for the secoliln.dllrB.c.e.in.B.roilwlI'.~.O~f.rB!cm~·~g:... _ _
Carlson stayed true to form, taking the
Premier Supermotard final win by 1I margin of
more than 25 seconds. Carlson was riding his
Husqvama NOX at a very quick pace. At the
start of the heat race, Jesse Janisch rode his
Honda CR250 to the front of the fieid. He led
the pack up the hill, with Carlson, Shane
Myers, John Altmann and Jeremy DeRuyter
close behind. Carlson made a couple of
moves early in the first lap as the leaders
came through the off-camber, downhill section
of the track. Janisch had him covered until
they hit the infield portion. Carlson made a
move stick and started to pull some distance
on the pack of riders b8Wing for second. Carlson took the victory, with Janisch holding on
for second_ Altmann grabbed third, with Scott
Diedrich taking fourth and Myers, riding his
new Husqvama TE570, took fifth.
The Premier Supermotard final saw a lot of
the same riders doing baWe at the front. This
time, Carlson jumped out to the lead, with
Janisch, DeRuyter, Diedrich and Altmann follOWing. It was apparent th~t Carlson was on a
mission. He had a 10-bike gap back to the
second-placed rider after the first lap; that gap
grew to a 20-second lead at the finish of the
12-lap final.
The fight for second was a little more
interesting. Janisch had his hands full
with DeRuyter. The hard charging CRF450
rider was working Janisch for four laps - but
the harder he tried, the further back he
slipped: Diedrich made it by on lap five, and
Altmann slipped past on lap six. The final
order was Carlson, Janisch, Diedrich, Altmann
and DeRuyter.
The Middleweight Supenmotard class saw
a change in winners. Ron Zastrow was the
man in the right place at the end of the 12-lap
main, but he worked for it.
In the heat, Yamaha-mounted Jim Thomp-
son and Zastrow jumped into the lead as
Honda·mounted Diedrich and Matt Jensen fol-
lowed. The first five laps were some of the
closest racing in Middleweight competition
yet, as Thompson, Zastrow and Diedrich diced
it up. Diedrich moved into second on the
fourth lap. He got past Thompson for the lead
on the sixth lap. He managed a gap of about
10 bikelengths back to the second-placed
rider at the checkered flag. Thompson, Zastrow, Jensen and Yamaha-mounted Andy
Mauk filled out the top five.
The Middleweight Supenmotard final was
even more exciting than the heat race. At the
start, both Zastrow and Diedrich were running
side by side going into the first tum. Neither
Streaking
SchoolSus
Dellastates
FieJ
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