Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA R e d B u ll Supermo to C ha m p ionsh ip R o u nd 4 : Reunion Aren a - -- - XAS SHOOTOUT Ward extends hiswinning recordto aperfect three. wasn't that smooth. I wasn 't panick ing or anything, bu t I knew Chambon was goi ng to be catching up . So I j ust got into a good pace, and then Langston was right there [ before Langst on stall ed] , and I felt comfortable w ith him behind m e. Then I just start ing pacing m yse l f, and I start ing riding road -race st y le arou nd lap 12 or 13 wh en I saw Chambon co mi ng. Instead of wa iti ng fo r him , I decided th at I need ed to do somethi ng to go faster. It was a lot bette r through all of the fast stuff here, and it seem ed like I pulled awa y a bit then ." In the Unlimit ed Superm oto cla ss Chambon put on a rid ing clin ic for th e rest of the slim 11-r id er field . Rid ing at complet e ease , he eventually fi ni shed 16 seconds ah ead of second p l ac e for a de ci si v e victory. In t he Honda Red Rid ers J r. Supermoto Ch all enge, Colt er Dim ick from Lo veland, Col orado, led every lap to beat fell ow Co l ora do r ider Charly Rup p recht, and J amie Siever from Belle Plaine, Kan sas. O ne thing th at the down town Dal l as tra ck prov ided, pe rhaps the fi rst ti me, wa s a level p la y in g fie ld. T he tr ac k not only met the requests of the ro ad race and dirt tra ck experts with some fast er asphalt, but it still pro vid ed th e motocross legends a place to strut th eir stuff o n the sup ercro ss-st yl e dirt sect ion. Th e track also featured a uniqu e tunn e l sect i o n that ran 10 0 y ards into the arena's park ing stru c ture and t hen back ou t. In th e end , th is and th e addition of transpondertim ed qu alify ing and sc ore k eep in g made th e Dallas event the m ost org anized and well -run event to date. B y B LA K E C O N NE R PH OTOS BY R A YMO ND G UN DY DALLAS,TX,OCT. 18 inc e the reb irth of Supermoto in Amer ica . the question keeps being asked : Who's better, the A meri cans who invented the spo rt or the Eu rope ans wh o p erfec ted i t ? Th e que st i on m ay not ha ve been full y answered ju st y et , but the shootout bet ween one of Europe's best, KTM's Bo ris Cha m bo n , and un questionably Am e ri c a ' s best , Troy Lee D esi g n s Ho nda's J eff War d, finally occur red in Da llas, Texas. Well , it sort of di d, anyway . In Dallas th e showdown betw een Ch ambon and W ard n ev er b e c ame a dir ect wh eel -b anging co nfro nta tion, pr imari· Iy bec aus e the tw o ri ders started th e Sup ermoto m a in eve nt o n o p posite ends of the grid, Ward fro nt and cen ter, and Ch ambon at the back of the p ac k on row five . How ev er , by th e end of th e race the two we re battling for fi rst place , al bei t a couple of sec onds apa rt. T heir m eet ing was supposed to ta k e place ba ck in A ugust , at Sou th Boston Raceway in Virgi nia , but two da ys of weather delays m eant th at both Ch ambon and Ward m issed th e race du e to p rio r co m mi t ment s elsewhe re. In Dalla s, excite ment was in good supply , both at the front, with Ward 's im p ressi ve wi re -to -wire v ictory , a nd · every wh ere in between , w ith Cham bon 's amazing dismantling of th e rest of the field and eventual second-place finish . After three st art s in the AMA Sup ermoto ser ies, Ward is perfect with · three wins , em barrassing kids half hi s age and everyone else in between. "Th e race went really good," Ward said . "I holeshotted for the first time ev er. It was ni c e being out front, but I S 26 O C TO B ER 29 , 2003 ' cue I e n e 'ftI' so; Ward has wo n all th ree AMA Red Bu ll Supennoto . events he 's entered. RED BULL SUPERMDTO St arting from th e pole pos it ion for the Su permot o ma in was none other than th e rec entl y crowned AMA 12 5 cc Nation al Motocross Champion , South Afric an Grant Lan gston and his facto ry HMC KTM. Lined up alongsid e him was Wa rd , HM C KTM's 16-y ear-ol d fast ki d Chr is F illmore, and T ro y Lee D esign s Ho n d a ' s J erem y M cG rath . When the li g ht s went green , it was W ard ge tting t he j u m p o n th e fi e l d into turn one . It was the first holeshot that he 's ha d in AMA Sup erm o t o competitio n, and he had no p lan s of sq uande rin g his position. Right on his t a i l a nd al m o st stealing away th e posit ion into th e ult rati g ht turn o ne used only on th e start - was McGrath. By t he end of l ap one , Langston had sort ed himself out and was right on th e ta il of McGrath and just ah ead o f t eammate Fillmore. Steve Drew go t a great start on his Wh ite Broth ers Honda CRF450 and j umped into fourth from the second row , as d id KTM's Larry Pegram in sixth . T he r eal story , how ev er , w as unfolding near the back of the pack , as the ultrasm ooth slid ing Chambon kn i f ed h i s wa y to th e fr o nt w ith ap pa rent ease. On the fi rst la p alo ne , the dim inutive Frenchman p ic ked up six places from his 17th pos ition on the grid. In h is earlier heat race he had stalled his KTM and p ulled into the pits and was forced to go to a semifi nal , which he easily won . By lap five he had clawed his way all the way up to sixth . But would he be able to attack the fastest of the fas t as he got closer to the front? Mean while, at the fro nt , Langston, now past McG rath , look ed like he not o n l y had th e s pee d to h an g w it h Ward, but pos sibl y t o get aro und and lea ve hi m in hi s roo st . Th e tw o started to put a substantial gap between the m sel ves and McGrath by lap four. H ow e v er , it wasn ' t t o b e, as L an g ston cl ipp ed a h a y b al e and st alled his KTM in the tu nn el section under th e are na , losin g tw o la ps try ing to get it to restart . Five laps in and it was Ward with a huge lead ove r Mc Grat h, Fillmore and Te am Motodynamics Yamaha's Doug Henry , who had quietly slip ped to th e front from his thi rd-row starti ng positio n. On the sixth lap Cham bon slipped by Henry and could now smell the exh austs of the leading group. The next lap saw Fillmore stall his bike entering the supercrossstyle dirt section just before the rhythm sec ti o n , his K TM a l so refusin g t o re -fi re until a full lap later. Th is hand ed Chambon th ird , and he now had his sights set on McGra th , who w a s st ill se cond. Chambon attack ed the fast Dallas . corners with absolutely amazing bike contro l, sliding th e bike seamlessly from the braking points to the exits of the corners in on e long fluid motion. McGrath just didn 't have th e sp eed to ke ep the Frenchman at bay and fi nally got passed on the ninth lap. At th e end of lap nine it was Ward, Chambon - the only rid er able to dip down under a 1:20 -second lap time with his 1: 19 .9 86 on the following lap - McG rath , Hen ry , Pegram, Drew , Ben Carlson, wh o wa s well on his way to cl awi ng back fr om a fo urt h- row grid pos ition, RAD Racing's Mark Burkhart, Team Zoo York Honda's Mike Metzger in ninth, and Aussi e Ma rk Avard on the Pacifico Suzuki in 10th. In the followin g fou r laps a lot of actio n wou ld take p lac e, w ith Chambo n sta rti ng to pressure Ward, and Hen ry all ov er th e rear wheel of McGrath . On th e 1 1th lap Lan gst on , who had finally got his KTM running, jumped back in the race between Ward and Chambon, albeit two laps down. If Langston had a po int to prove, it was well taken, as he easily matched the

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