Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I am so disappointed because the team make a good job and a lot of work," Thiebault said. "Fourth place ... I prefer podium. So I want to say thank you at everybody on the team, and I'm very happy to be here. I want to come back if it is possible and they want. I'm impressed by the American riders. They are very fast Ward and Jeremy - very fast. Everything is okay. The track is a little bit small for me, but I hope the next time it will be better for me and I can get on the podium. '" was running with Ward, but in the middle of the race, I got arm pain [arm pump] in the dirt part, and Kurt Nicoll passed me," Thiebault said. "There is a lot of traffic, and I lose time, and I had too much pain. Fourth place, I am a little bit disappointed." Drew, meanwhile, also soloed home in fifth place, the Californian garnering two top-fives on the weekend (he was fourth in the Unlimited final). "I'm pretty pleased," Drew said. "That's not bad company when my own RAce RED BULL SUPERMOTO (0)00 gR c.£) U eJ Mike Metzger 9th "I didn't quite get the start I was looking for," Metzger said. "I think that I was right around ninth place at the beginning, and being that far back, you've got to go for some gutsy moves. Unfortunately, I think it was Gary Trachy and Joe Kopp in front of me, and I went for a pass over in the off-camber dirt section, and it didn't stick. I actually ended up taking myself and both of those guys down. That's what happens on a real tight, one-line track. I got going again and ran into a lapper that took my line away from me, and I went down again. I'm happy that I'm going to be leaving not hurt." llll Christopher Fillmore 11th "I had to work my way up from the last row and try to get through the guys," Fillmore said. "I went down once. That's about it." Any speculation that Fillmore might be able to hold up Jeff Ward was washed away when he inadvertently held up his KTM teammate Kurt Nicoll instead after Ward sped by Fillmore. "I had no idea," Fillmore said. "Without flags, you really can't tell anything. They really need to get some flags out there. I had no idea what was going on behind me. I'm happy that I moved through the pack, but you always want to be right up there." ®{§){J Gary Trachy IIIcCInIIIt ............ to fIIIb to the dIrL IIOJIMJ InIx of dirt .... aspMJt, . .eIIMCI tD favor the IDDtoll.- . . . - . . but Iill=-~ ~ In ~ AId that IIkecI the Iayo.u . n--.. 18th Like Kopp, Trachy was a victim of the aggressive Mike Metzger. "I started on the outside of the second row, and I thought it was a really good starting spot," Trachy said. "I didn't get off the line quite as good as I wanted to, so by the time I got down to the tight little chicane, I was about 11 tho I started working my way down to about seventh or eighth, when Metzger came down the inside of me. It was an aggressive pass, and it's just part of racing, but he hit me and made me run into Joe Kopp, and it took all three of us down. Unfortunately, their bikes were still running, and I had to kick mine about a half a dozen times. By the time I got going, I was pretty far down in the pack. That said, this was an awesome deal, and its definitely going to take off." II ®® J.R. Schnabel - 24th Schnabel's day went from bad to worse, as he got tangled up in an opening-lap melee that began when fellow dirt tracker Chris Carr crashed. He would recover from that one lap down and then get collected again when Mike Cinqmars fell in front of him in the right-toleft transition just after the jump. "In the first two turns guys were just bouncing off each other, and I think Chris Carr got nailed by somebody over there, punted, and everyone kind of checked up but some guy who thought that he was going to go right to the front from about 15th," Schnabel said. "He took me and three other guys out. But we got going again and had more people falling in front of us, and we were running them over. one of those deals, you know? It was fun and a good thing to be a part of, but they do need to straighten a few things out. It's a cool series. I think they leamed a lot this weekend about what they need to do, and they'll go back, look at their notes and make the series even better." ®cB th.,. you've got National Champions and weekend in Long Beach, but I want World Champions out there. The to be ready for the next AMA race. French guy. Thiebault, he's a World Hopefully we can put it up on the Supermoto guy. I just want to try and get a program together where I box and try to give those guys a run for their money." can go out and maybe get some laps Red Bull/HMC KTM's Joe Kopp was in practice and stuff. I've got to the first dirt tracker to cross the finish Chris Carr 27th "We were going through the asphalt esses on the back stretch, and it was like stop-and-go traffic in Monterey on Superbike weekend," Carr said. "I high sided off the back of Rich . Alexander and slammed the tire wall in that last little left. That stung me for a while, and once I got the bike going, I just rode around for a few laps to see if I felt okay. I did another 10 or 12 laps, and I was hurtin'. I just figured I'd pull off and let those guys have a clearer track. I don't think I would have had a chance to win. Those guys up front were going really fast. I felt I was capable of a top-10 finish. It just didn't work out that way." admit that my hands started going line. The former AMA Grand National numb toward the middle ways. Rid- Champion salvaged sixth place even ing through the dirt section, I wasn't after tangling with Team Zoo York as finessed as I wanted to be with Honda's Mike Metzger and Fasst Com- the throttle. I just rode the wheels off pany/Pro Action's Gary Trachy and the thing, and it was a good race. For what they had for a track out crashing in one of the dirt sweeper corners on lap nine. Kern KTM/Knight here, I think we put on a pretty good show. It was fun. I've got a race next tralian Supermoto points leader, fin- eye I e KTM's Mark Avard, the current Aus- n e _ S • JULY 23. 2003 43

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