Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Supermoto USA Triple Crown AMA Supermoto Grand Championship Qualifier s Rounds 2/1: Pat's Acres Racing Complex (Fa r left) Doug Chan d ler flies h igh en route to the victory i n t h e Prestige contest at round two of the Supennoto USA Triple Crown at Pat's Acres Racing Complex. The event was also the first of the AMA Su pennot o Grand Championship Qu alifi ers. By P RITT E. F A ST P HO T O S B Y K E N T R EG A N CANBY, OR, AUG. 3 M TM USA' s D o ug Chandler used W h i s re c ent ex perience in World Supermoto competi tion to win eas ily round two o f th e Sup ermoto USA T rip le Crown Prestig e rac e, he ld at th e Pat's Acres karting tr ack , loc at ed in the historic Charbeneau district j ust south of Port land, Oregon . In addition to being round tw o of the S upermoto USA Tripl e C ro wn Series, the event served as th e fi rst qua li fy ing ro und for the newly form ed AMA S upe rmoto Grand Champi on ships . Racers in a ll classes earned va lua b le q ualifying p oin t s for th e f inal, a wi n ne r -take -a ll ev ent to be held in Las Veg as this N ovem ber. With tempera tu res in the mid -80s, the ambiance at the track was perfect. Surrounded by a forest and a small stream , the 30 -foot-wide trac k winds around several large trees and features big-banked comers connected by rolling stra ights that in spi re power whee l ies and great sl id ing action . The course was construct ed using 80 -percent pavement and a simple dirt section with a single j um p. After all eight ma ins for the AMA Grand Championship Qualifiers had been run , the crowd was ready for th e 25 -lap Prestige ma in event. Chandler lined up o n pol e; n ext t o him wa s J osh Chisum ; then St eve Drew and Rick Pe a r c e filled o ut th e fr ont ro w . W hen the light t urned gre en, Cha nd le r shot out front, followed by Chis um , who got p inc hed o ff at the apex b y Dre w and Pe a r c e. Casey Ya r ro w a nd Do n H a r t were right beh in d , and th e top si x im mediately pulled away fro m th e rest of the field . 42 S EPTEMBER 3 , 2003' cue I e Drew knew he would have to stay cl o se to Chandler, and the tw o riders bu il t a two-second gap on Pearce. Trailing Pearce was Yar row , who had m a d e i t past Ch is um in t he fas t decreasin g -r ad ius left- hand sw eeper, a co m b ina tion of three left s that the fast guys turned into on e big tu rn . Th e top six sp ots ap peared to be set , w ith ea c h r i d er se t tl in g into a co mforta ble pace. Th en , on lap five, Dr ew tu c k ed the fr o n t e n d a n d lowsi de d ente ring turn one at the end o f th e stra ight. Off in th e di r t , h e managed to keep it running and re j o in the race, lo sing only tw o spot s, as Pearce and Yar row qui ckly sneaked by . Chisum a lmost m ad e it past , bu t he would have to wait for one more lap , when Drew bob bled agai n in th e same corne r an d Chiz sneaked in underneath him . By the eighth lap, the leaders had begun to enc ounter lapped rid ers , so th e c o u r se officia ls pu ll ed o ut th e b lue passing flag , allowing for safe, clean pass ing. Chand ler was now well out front, Pearce was a safe second , an d a battl e for th ird rag ed am on g Yarrow , Chisum and Dr ew ; their ski r mish allowed Hart t o c atc h up an d j o in the contest . By midrac e, Ch isum had m ad e it ba ck past Yarrow , a n d Dr ew w as pu sh ing hard, runn ing it in deep into turn one, w ith Yarrow on th e ou tsi de a n d n o w he re t o g o but wid e a n d eve ntually off the pa vement. Seeing the op po rt uni ty , Hart gass ed it up and sne ak ed by Yarrow before he cou ld get bac k in line. E nough distance now se p a rat ed the top six fro m one another that the y all j ust wen t into "risk management" mode, tryi ng not t o m ak e any rnls nevv s (L eft) Ri c k Pearce had a successful w eeken d in Ca nby, Oreg on , w inn ing the Vet Open race an d f inis hin g se c o nd in the Prest ige event on his Hond a 450. t akes. In the end , Chandler cruise d to vi ctory , lapping up through sev enth p lac e and rid ing whee lies th e length of the fro nt straight on his KTM 450. Pearc e, on his A m eri c a n H on d a CRF450R, r o d e most of t he race uncon tested fo r an im p ressive sec ond -p lace fin ish . Team CHM Exhaust m e mbers brought home th e most brass ( fi ve troph i es ) . with Yarrow winning the Open Expert ma in , Pearc e winn ing th e Vet ma in and p lacing second in Prest ig e, and Brok McAllister w inn ing M in i Motard a nd pla c ing seco n d . beh ind his te am mate , in th e Vet Open race . The week end' s only multiple -class w inner was Ros ev ill e C y c l e 's Cameron Beaubier , the 10 -ye ar-old sensatio n from N orthern Cal iforni a , who won the Stock Mini cla ss aboard an RM65 and, in a fantast i c b attle , best ed Br ad Bak er for the win in the Youth Super Lightweight cl ass , both rid ers "o n Honda CR80s. The Supermoto USA Triple Crown final will be held at Mesa Marin Race wa y i n Bakersfi e ld , California, o n Septembe r 20 , w it h t h e high -point rider earn ing prize money and a tri p for two to Paris, F rance , to see th e Gu idon D' O r Sup erm oto Ra c e. T he Bakersfield race will also serve as the last chance for West Coast racers to qualify for the AMA Supermoto A ma teur Grand Ch am pi onship fi na l in Las Vegas. T he T r ipl e Crown poi nts ra c e i s a good o ne . with ma ny r i d e rs i n the hu nt. Drew leads with 48 , Chan d l e r and Chisum are t i ed w ith 44, and Pearce and Yarrow are al so tied with 32. eN Pat's Acres Rac & ing les Canby Oregon , Results: August 3. 20D3 l Rounds 2/11 PRE STIGE: 1. Dou g Ch andl er (Ha n) ; 2 . Rick Pearce (Hon): 3. J osh Chis um ( Hon) ; 4. Don Hart (Hon); 5 . Stev e Drew (Hon ). OPEN EX : I . Case y Yarrow ( Ho n) ; 2 . J osh Chisum (Hon); 3 . Peter Neilson (Hon) ; 4 . Dave Kemp (Yam ); 5. Brett Flad seth (Yam) . VET OP EN : I. Ric k Pearc e ( Ha n ) : 2 . Bro k McAllister (Hon) ; 3 . Darr ick Lucchesi (Hon); 4. Allan YlJrTOW (Yam) ; 5 . Steve Hall (YlIm). M /W : 1. Dav e Kemp (Ya m) ; 2 . Peter Neils on (Ya m) ; 3. Br ett Flad seth (Ya m) ; 4 . Allan Yarrow (Yam) ; 5 . Jim Styskel (Han ). L/W : t. Tom Cl ou se ( Hon ); 2 . Scott Magan n (Yam) ; 3. Mik e Cardenas (Yllm) ; 4. J acob Lehm ann (Han); 5. Cam eron Beeubier (Han) . MINI MOTARD : I. Brok McAllister (Hon ); 2. CD. Howell (Hon ); 3. Scott Baker (Han); 4 . Dav e Kemp (Yam ); 5. Ronnie Saner (Yem) . S/l/ W: 1. Cam ero n Beeubler ( Ho n ); 2 . Brad Bak er (Hon); 3. J .D. Beach (Kll w); 4. J acob Lehm an (Hon) ; 5. J ett Chand ler (Han) . STK MINI: 1. Cameron Beaubie r (Suz); 2. J ess Garc ia ( Han ) ; 3 . Krls Nords tro m (KTM); 4 . Tr avis Ohge (Han) ; 5. Angel Inouye (Yam) . SPT SMN / NOV: 1. Chris Celorie (Hon) ; 2. Matt Schwei tzer ( Hon); 3 . Tam Youn g (KTM) ; 4 . Ke vi n laFavor (Han ): 5. David Tayler (Hon).

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