Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AM AI R e d Bull S u p e r m o t o C h a mp io n s h ip S e r ie s R o u n d 2 : B ig D a d d y' s S o u t h Boston Speedway (Left) Fonner fourtim e ISDE me dalli st Australian Mark Avard ran a great race In the Supennoto class, with a third-place finish, and now finds himself in the championship points lea d. (Bel ow) Schwantz was on fire In the main event, after his first-tum crash. He sliced through most 'of the field to finish fourth from nearly dead last. QUALIFYING [)[J®W uOD@:;vz @®f1 UOD@ f?® Sat urda y got off t o an exciting start with every- one at the track eager to see the giants of motor cycle racing clas h o n t he South Bo st on Sp eedw ay Su p erm ot o tra ck . O ne hu ge im provement in most of the riders' eyes was the fact that scratch heats, a l a d irt trac k racing. would help determ ine t h e heat ra ce g r ids inst ead o f Lagu na Seca's randomly drawn na mes. In th e heat races McGrath and Ivan Lazzarini went at it , with the Italian putting this sick outside pass on Me t o take the lead. Some o f the bes t action of the entire event took place in the early scratch heats. with Boris Chambon and Jeremy McGrath going head to head in scratch heat numb er four. Off the start Chambon leaned down heavily onto McGrath as they entered the turn one chicane. McGrath wasn't too happy with the Frenchm an's aggression so early in the day , and in the second left hand berm in the dirt section , MC put a block-pass on Chambon that would have made Eric Sorby proud. He won't soon forget it, that's for sure. In the end, Chambon nipped McGrath across the line for the win, but it was one of the most exciti ng showdowns of the weekend. Other scratch heat winners were Micky Dymond, Malt Pursley , Ben Carlson, dirt track er Brett Landes , Mark Burkh art , Italy' s Ivan Lazzarin i, Mike Metzg er and Josh Chisum . Thus the stage was set for the actual heat races that would determ ine the grid for the main event. The heats got under way with the same vigor that the scratch heats had. In the first heat race Chambon beat Carlson. Landes and Jeff Wood. In heat race number two it was McGrath getting the holeshot against Lazzarini. with Metzger. Kevin Schwantz, Southern Californ ia's Steve Drew and Mike Smith in tow. As they headed into turn one to start the second lap. Lazzarini put an absolute ly spectacular pass on McGrath arou nd the outside headin g into the turn one ch ican e. Th e Ita lian checked out on the field com pletely. only to crash and stall his motor on the last lap, handing the win to McGrath . Heat number three saw Jeff Ward and Chandler go at it , with Ward leading the entire heat until Chandler finally squeaked by on the last lap to steal away the win from the inj ured Ward (see Briefly ...). "The slower guys kind of held him [Ward] up there: Chandler said. "That gave me the opportunity to stay close to him on the bank. and it worked out for me." The final heat race in the "450' class was led by KTM-moun ted Malt Pursley until teenager Chris Fillmore put a sick pass on him and led to the flag. "I felt great; I was second off the line, and I knew that is what I had to do to qualify: Fillmore said. "I wasn't expecting to do that good, but I did. I think I'll do good tonight if the weather holds." "It went real good for me: Pursley said. " It's just that my bike is box stock; it's real good coming out of the hole - like on the start s and coming out of the turns. But comi ng down that back straightaway, it's j ust so long, it just doesn't have enough legs. The facto ry KTM guy s have a lot of money wrapped up in theirs, and it shows going down the straightaway . If I get in top five or six, I'll be real happy . but I thi nk that 's a reasonab le expectation." In the Unlimited Supermoto class the two heat races were won by Lazzar ini and Fill m ore . The semis ran on Monday j ust prior to the main events. The single Unlimited Supermoto semi was won by Chandler, who had stalled in his heat race. which was the reason he was there in the first place. Superm oto semi number one was won by Austra lian Mark Avard on his Suzuki DRZ400. whil e semi number two went to Frenchm an Rolland Fabien on his Honda CRF450 R. Th e final qualifying busin ess of th e day was the Superpole competition for the Supermoto class. Eight riders took to the track to try to win their pick of their starting positions for the m ain. Mike Smith held the fast time for most of the brief session until Chandler went out and knock ed him off the top of the tim e sheets. Chandler would end up choosing to take the traditional inside pole position. c ue W he n t he c h eck e re d flag flew . it WaS Ch andler wi t h a f1ag-to-flag v ictory o v er te ammate Carlson . Roundin g o ut th e p odium was Avard with a stron g thi rd. Sc hwantz ne ed ed a few m ore la p s to reel him in, but his ride through th e pack was a good on e . Chandler has now added a Super m oto win to h is extens ive list of ra e in g accom p li sh ment s. wh il e Schwantz look ed like th e Schwantz o f o ld ridi ng the wheels off h is Suzu ki wi t h t he raw tal ent and determi na tion th at ea rn ed him hi s 1993 W orld C hampi onsh ip . On the o t h e r end of the sp e c trum we re A me r ica's n ew g en e rat i on of Supe rm oto specia list s. Carl so n and Fillm o r e . who b oth l o ok lik e th e y ha ve a lot more wi nni n g to do in the n ow ex p lo d in g sp ort. W ith o r wi t hout th e likes of M cGrath . Ward , Ch ambon a nd co m p a ny, a n d e v en th ough it t o o k a w h ile to ge t th ings w rapp ed up. t he lucky few w ho we re th er e saw so me excit ing ra cing. SUPERMOTO UNLIMIT ED The Unlim it ed m ain eve nt had a b it o f a d eplet ed field . The ent ry list w asn't as big as it wa s at Lagun a Sec a in th e first p lac e. but the cont in uo u s d elays whittl ed th e f ie ld down ev e n m ore . Only 10 rid ers lined up for th e ma in eve nt, run just p rior to the Superm oto m ain . On p ol e p o siti on wa s K TM' s Fill m ore o n th e t e am ' s 525SX . Fillm ore had transferred d ir ectly to the main vi a hi s heat -r ac e wi n fro m Sa t- It al y ' s Lazzarin i . who le ft town ea rly d ue to prior comm itments and never spun a w heel in a main event. At t he d ro p o f th e flag to start th e main event. it WaS former Motocross N at ion a l C ha mpio n Micky D ym ond ju m p in g out front. Following hi m and ' slo tti n g i nto se c ond pla c e was Carl so n . follow ed by pol e sitter F illmore and Ava rd o n h is Pacifico-sponsored Hus ab erg . On l a p t w o Carl son sn eaked b y Dym ond . with Fillmo r e w a iti ng fo r his c h ance t o g et t o the fro nt as well. " I g ot a good j u m p a nd got into th e first turn reall y well . " D ymond sa id. " A t the start o f th e second lap Ben [Ca rl so n] got m e g o ing into o ne . and th en 1j us t tried to keep p ace w ith h im w hile eve ryo ne WaS bunch ed up . I th i n k th ere was a li ttle m o r e p avem ent t ha n I' m used to. I w as lo okin g fo r m o re d irt. I tried to h ang in th ere. but they g ot me o n th e bank ing more th an an yth in g . I j ust cou ld n 't get o ut o f the c h icane an d o nto the banking v ery st ro n g. " A vard was s itting in fourth wi th KTM 's Larry Pegram in fifth . At the • urd ay , which he i n he ri te d afte r c ausing him to run a d iffer ent g ea r o ne of those places th at if you lose a littl e bit of r hy t h m. it t ake s a la p to ge t it ba c k. I d on 't k no w if I got to Mark Ava rd i f I co uld h ave passed m e thro ugh the mud section , and I dropped back a w ho le bun ch, and then Schwantz g ot m e. I'm g lad it' s over w ith now . a nd I'm g lad we g ot a rece in ." S EPTEMBER 10. 2003' sliced th rough th e field near th e end . even tu ally fi ni sh ing in seventh . With o n ly a fe w laps rern arrun q , Sch w a ntz put a ni c e p as s o n Burkh art in th e infield sec t io n but h ad too mu ch ground to m ak e up t o ge t a ro u nd Avard . "I was c at c hi n g a b un ch o f g uy s re all y quickly, " S ch w an t z sa id. " It 's Dymond. " I just kept plugg ing awa y , Dymond said . "I go t close to Burkhart around ha lfway . 1 was putting on a cha rge. and the lapped ride r ahea d o f m e h a d so me probl ems and p us hed 22 h im . I m ean 1 Saw hi m ra c e last week e n d i n C o lorado, a nd he 's a g oo dquality rid er. It w ou ld ha ve bee n nice to have be en at the front the who le t ime and se e if we c o u ld have r u n wi th D oug [Chandler ] and [Ben] Carl son . but it added a little excitement to t he weeke nd ." F il lm ore wa s anoth er rider w ho F r en ch factory KTM pilo t Boris C ha m bo n c ra s he d, stall e d a n d DNFed o ut of a co m ma n di n g l ead . Th e o t he r he at- r a ce wi n ner w a s down th e st ra ig ht th an he wanted to . On that sam e l ap , Fillm ore had worked h is wa y p ast D ym ond wh il e e n e vv s st art o f t he fourth lap . A vard had an in c id ent tryin g to ge t slowed down for turn o n e . T h a t w as p r ec eded by a_ f uel-sta rv a ti on proble m t hat was Pegram had ca p ita li ze d o n th e mis-

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