Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128231
work o r c atc h fli gh t s ba ck hom e. W ith all of that said a nd done, M on d a y at Sou th Bo st o n Speedway produced some exce lle nt racing , with a cast that proved that a good show was in the c ards anyway. A nice mixture of household names such as Schwantz , Chandler , Metzger, Dym ond, Larry Pegram and Mike Smith and u p-and -coming Superm o to sta rs Chris F ill m or e and Ben Carls on made i t worth th e wait. Cha ndler got the day started by wi nning the Superpole event, wh ich wa s more cere m on i al t ha n anythi ng e lse , but it did allow him to p ick his spot o n th e fro nt ro w for th e Red Bu ll S uper m oto m ain eve nt. T hat ended u p pay ing off bi g ti m e for Chand ler , as he was abl e to win th e race without incident. In the Un limited Supermoto class , 16 -year-old Fillmore got what must be a first of m any wins in his yo ung m ot orcycle ra cing c areer. " I knew wha t I needed to do to make the best o ut of that pole position," Chandl er said . " T h i s track seemed to be a little bit better for racing because yo u could pass a bit. But it's tough, because when th e gu ys are within a co up le of tenths of you , it 's hard to make a move to get a better positi on . I knew if I could j ust get m y butt off that line, we'd be oka y b ecause my l a p times were reall y good and consi stent. I felt really good and backed it off a little bit towards the end. It feels good just to finally get it over with and finall y w in one. " Th e biggest disap po in tm ent o f the wee ke nd had to be t hat despite the fact th at rai n l o o k ed i mm inent on Sat u rday nigh t , the g randstands were pack ed w it h an xio us spectators read y to see a couple o f excellent races bu t b y Mo nday t he n umb e r s wer e red uced fro m thousa nd to hundreds . AMA REO BULL SUPERMOTO FINAL Chandler had secured his p ick of any front-row st arting position he desired by winn in g th e Superpole quali f y in g round . Th e rest of the invi t ed Superp o l e part i cip ant s w ould g ri d u p in the ir origi nal positio ns. Just prior to th e st art of th e ma in , sem i- n umber two wi nne r Fr en chman Roll an d Fab i en st alle d his Honda's motor an d was never abl e to get th e bi ke to fire . Chandle r put the pol e to good use as he fire d hi s KTM off of the line and into turn one ahea d of the pack with a so lid hol esh ot. A ll he ll broke lo o se behi nd Ch an dl er in th e tight turn-one hair pin as Fi llmo re sta lled his KTM as he backed it in to the co rne r, ca us ing a cha in reacti on th at t ook down m any of th e rid er s. " I think I got bumped in the first co rne r co mi ng in , " Fillm or e sa i d . "Then I sta ll ed it. I got it sta rt ed k ind of fast , but eve ry body passed me by m ounted Ma rk Burkhart round ing out t he to p five at the e nd of la p one . Also running at the front in the early goi ng were D ym ond, Sm ith and Cory Call o n his M cAllister Mo tors port s Ho nda CRF 4 50 R. " I got off th e li ne good again , Carlson said. "My HMC KTM 450 was just unbeliev abl e . I got i n back of Do ug [Chand ler] and picked up some of his li nes and ran a cons istent race . I tried to run awa y as soon as I co uld, and then I just had fun with it. " Th e action at the front was furious, esp ecially ove r the co urse of th e first five laps. There were a co uple o f rid ers on t he m o ve ; o ne o f th em was Schwantz , wh o wasted no time getting int o a solid rh ythm and working his way th rough the pack wi t h authority . T he oth er was F il lm o re , w ho was n ' t ge tt i ng t h e b reaks that Sch wa ntz was but wa s making up pos itions qu ick ly . Seve n laps in, and it was Chand ler hol ding th e lead, with Carlson, Metzg er, and A vard sti ll in tou ch . The leaders we re already hittin g lappers by lap n in e and had th eir wo rk cut o ut for th em o n the tig ht in fi eld secti ons o f th e tra ck . After 10 laps it was Chan dl er, Carlson , Metz, A vard , Burkhart, D ym ond and Sch w antz . w ho w a s abs olute l y th e fas t est ri der o n t h e tra c k. Sch wantz's bik e so unde d li ke hell , as he ha d dama ged th e j unc tio n between th e exhaust header and c ani ste r in h is ea rl ie r tip o v e r, but it didn 't seem to affec t his ra ce . Chan dl er seem ed to be getting through the lappers with apparent ease compared t o some of th e other g uys, but no one seemed to be held up for too lon g . On e of th e guys w ho was having trouble wi th lappers was Metzge r, the freestyle king getti ng held up m ultiple times before he fina lly tangled with one of th e slower rid ers and crashed on the 19th l a p . Un f or t u n a t el y , Me tzger wasn 't ab le t o restart his Honda and ended up parking th e bike , ca rd ing a DNF. This after look ing sup ersmooth and quick all week end. W ith five lap s to go it was sti ll Chand ler, but at this po int he seemed to be putting a pretty decent gap on sec ond-pla ced Ca rlson. W ith Metz o ut, Avard t o ok o v e r th ird . Having b een fast a ll wee ke n d a n d feel ing t ot a lly comforta ble o n th e prim aril y asphalt surfac e, Avard was secure in th ird fo r the time bein g . " I got a good sta rt - it was ac tu ally a little ha rd er than I thoug ht it would be," Ava rd said . - I had a good pos it i on , and [Mi k e] Me tzger , I kn e w w he re h e was gOing , he was go ing straig ht to the in side. I ju st thought I'd sta y on the out side o f him and hope full y cause some trouble . I saw tha t Metzger sta lled [t owards the end], and I had worked it ou t th at I was in fo urth before he went dow n , and then I saw he was hav in g tr ou ble sta rti ng it , so th at was all good. I was n't sure wh o was behind m e , so tha t was my ma in co ncern at that poi nt. " Behind A v ar d c a m e B u r k h ar t, 'Schwantz, who was still on a m issio n f rom t h e m ot or c y c l e gods, a n d f 6-year-old Chris Fillmore had an excellent weekend, winning both of his heat races, one In each class, and then going on to win the Unlimited Supermoto class on his HMC KTM 525SX. th en . From then on I was wide o pen. I tried to giv e it everything I had ." In addition to F ill m ore, Pegram and Smith, Schwantz was ca ught up in th e melee. Mi racu lously, Schwant z's Suzu ki DRZ400 wa s still running wh en he got it uprig ht , allowing him to je t off a f te r th e fi el d w ith a fu ll 23 l aps remaining. " I don 't k now ex ac tly w hat hap pened," Sc hw antz said . " A ll I k no w is th at I was on th e ground . I got to th e fir st turn in third o r fourth a nd ju st tri ed to st ick it o n th e insid e so no one e l se c ould g et in si de of m e. I think it was F ill m o re wh o wan ted to go aro und the c orner wh en I was still goi ng strai ght . I think it c aught m e off g ua r d, and I fell , and I kind o f g ot p in g -p on ged around a bit. But I got back to m y Yoshimura Suzuki , and it was still f riggin ' runnin g, and I th ought, ' M a n, am I l u c k y . ' S o I jumped o n it and made the most of it. " Stayi ng out of troub le at the fro nt wa s Chan d ler in t he lead with KTM t eammate Carlson hot o n hi s tail, th en Metzger on his Ho nda CRF450R , fast Aussie Mark Avard and Yamaha - Ben Carlson (45) leads Metzger (8 7 5) over the only remaining dirt section on the track, In the Supermoto main. Carlson was the weekend's bridesmaid , taking second in both the Supermoto and Un limited Supermoto classes. -- c U c I e n e \IV S • S EPTEM B ER 1 0 .20 0 3 21