Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Kunzel was really fast at Irwindale. He led by over 17 sec ond s when he lost concentration and fell. He go t u p still in the lead. Mike Metzger scored his first podium of the year, coming from the third row to finish a strong third. He says he's slowly going to get out of freestyle to pursue Supennoto as a career. Ben Bostrom (155) did battle with Jeff Ward 13x) e arly on. Bostrom ran third, fell, and finished fifth . Ward broke. just ki nd of got a b o o st o f e ne r g y , o v e r t h e W orld Su p erm o t o runn er -up . a n d I j u st tri ed t o stick wi t h h i m . I s pee d w a y c hica ne , a n d I d r iv e t oo " I n th e b e gin n in g , yo u kn o w , h e co u ld c a tc h h im i n th e di r t s ectio n n ear t o t he t ire , an d m y foot b rake , I wa s fl yin g o u t t h ere ," H enry sa id o f th ere b y d o in g th e trip le, so I just f ig- Jurgen Kunzel (KTM. 1: 16 .431 ); 3. Jeff Ward (Han. 1:16 .902 ); 4 . Ben Carlson (KTM. 1:16 .9 18); 5 . Ben Bostrom (Han, 1:17 .834 ); 6 . Larr y Pe qra rn (KT M , 1:18 .119 ); 7. Joe Kop p (KTM. 1: 18.31 5 ); 8. Mark Avard (Suz, 1: 19.70 3). MAIN EVENT (20 laps); I. Doug Henry (Yam); 2. Jurgen Kunzel (KTM ); 3 . Mike Metzger (Hon); 4 . Ben C arlson (KTM) ; 5 . Ben Bostrom (Han); 6 . Joe Kopp (KTM ); 7 . Ma rk Avard (Suz): 8 . Larry Pegram (KT M ); 9 . Josh Chisum (Han); 10. Ma rk Burkhart (Ya m) ; 1 1. Rog er Lee Ha y den ( Ha n ) ; 12 . Ma tt Pursley ( Ya m ); 13 . Co ry Call ( Han ); 14 . Laurent Beguelin (Ha n) ; 15 . Shane Turpin (KT M); 16 . Matt Burton (Yam ) ; 17 . Ga ry T rach y (Ha n) ; 18. Case y Yarrow (Han) ; 19. Don Hart (Han) : 20 . Brett Lande s (Han): 2 1. Jeff Ward (Hon) : 22. Nick Daniels (Yam ); 23 . Chris Fillmore (KT M) : 24 . Steve Drew (Han). Race TIme : 25 min .. 1.764 sec. Margin of Victory : 7.5 sec. AMA / RED BULL S UP ER MOTO NA TIONA L CH AMP ION SHIP ( Aft er 5 of 6 round s) : I . Ma rk Ava rd (76 ); 2 . Jeff Ward (75 /3 wins): 3 . Ben Carlson (7 1); 4 . Doug Henr y (65/1 win ); 5 . (TIE) Jerem y McGrath/Mark Burkhart (60 ); 7. M ike Metzger (4 6); 8 . Steve Drew (43) ; 9 . Larry Pegram (4 0 ); 10. Chris Fillm ore (3 7); I I. Andrieu Thi ebault ( 36) ; 12 . Joe K o pp ( 3 0) ; 13 . J o sh C hi su m ( 27); 14 . Doug Cha ndler ( 2 5/1 win ) ; 15 . (T IE ) Josh Woo d/ Ga ry T r ac hy ( 2 4 ) ; 17 . ( T I E ) J ur g e n Kun zel / B ori s Chambon/ Kurt Nicoll ( 22 ); 20 . Brett Landes (21 ). " For me, it ' s a big prob lem o n th e lose it , a n d it' s shit th en , " h e sa id . line w ith o ver seven seconds t o spare a Kunz e !' " I w as ju st trying t o ru n h i s u red if I c o u ld k in d of stay with him " A n d i t's I pa c e , an d h e just g apped m e . Th en p retty good in th e as p h al t , I m ight b e b efore fi nis h . It ' s a lo ng time t hen." w h en I sa w h im o n t h e out si d e , I sa w a KTM th ere , a nd I w as like , ' A w w , is a ble t o get him ov er th e t r i pl e . I t wo rked out reall y good fo r m e ." t h rough t he pa ck imp ressi vel y fr om that him ?' I sa w th a t it w as hi m , an d I IliJJ2 @r::A!lCfD 1J @@ Ben Bostrom Kunz el wasn 't happy w it h sec ond . Joe Kopp " It' s n ic e t o f in a ll y put t o gether a ft]@@@ th ree weeks fro m n o w we'll be at o u r fi na l in Veg as, so I' m look in g forward 5th t o gettin g anoth e r p odiu m an d p o ssi b ly w inn in g t h e th in g ," said the leg - Ben Carlson Irwindale Speedway Irwindale, California Results: November I , 2003 IRound 51 Jeff Ward BRIEFLY••• 6th 3rd 4th ®1J Mark Burkhart DNF The winn ingest rider this year, seven-time Natio nal t-'IX./S X champ Jeff Ward , had a bad night in Irwi ndale. He fell about halfw ay th rough the race while running seventh and hav ing bike prob lems , "A nd then it wouldn't start again. There was something wrong. These bi kes no rm ally start first kick. I alm ost m issed m y heat race because it wouldn't sta rt, and every time I'd stop , it didn 't want to start again." 10th The former KTM privateer supe rcross stando ut had a horrible day but still garn ered a top -10 spot. "My whole day has been going crappy: he said. "I blew a motor in practice and only got like seven laps tot al pr acti c e, and I qualified out of m y heat race - somehow - but the guys at Yamaha helped me get my bike runn ing . Then my bike actually quit runn ing on the grid at the start of the rac e, so I had to get off and get a bump start . Friggin ' everybody too k off, and I had to catch up maybe five, six seconds just to start passing people." Upcoming Round: Round 6 - Las Vegas, Nevada, November 21 SUPERPOLE: 1. Doug Henry (Yam . 1: 15.423 ); 2. T he y oung Red Bu ll KTM t eamster ro de bot h cl asses, and although he sho wed impress ive speed , th e extra track ti me m ay have ta ken its to ll by night's end. "Yeah, it ki nd of affects you no matte r what yo u think : Carl son said. "You' ve got 24 laps m ore than anybod y else. I feel like I'm in okay shape, it 's j ust hard to put a charge in at the end of the race." ®22 eN en da ry fr eestyl e.. The King of the Two-Wheel Deal "started on the third row, ninth place, and I caught up to th ird, so... First pod ium this year, and it' s definitely good for me going into Vegas because I was putting in som e really fast lap ti mes . Bostro m was right there in front of me - I was catchi ng him. He made a m istake and threw it away and then gave third place to Carlson. I worked on Carlson for a few laps , and I finall y got him. I just want to do that again in Vegas." ~@ the th ird r o w to ro un d o u t th e p od iu m p odium fin is h h ere in Irw indale , a nd The former AMA Grand Nat ional Dirt Tra ck Champion was also pulling double duty, but like his teammate Kunzel, he lost his rear -b rake lever in the Supermoto ma in. "I caught up to Carlson and Bos trom there, and all of a sudden I go in right after the chic ane, and my rear-brake pedal 's gone . I must've got it in a right-hand chicane - I kn ew I was getting close to the tires , but.. ." . Mike Metzger ECC H o n d a ' s Mi k e M etzg er c a m e - h is f irs t of t h e se as o n . Bostrom , who was spo rting a can of Red Bull on the back of hi s helm et, showed up for roun d fiv e basically to get som e practic e in and get enough points to qu alify for th e winner -take -all finale at the Rio in Las Vegas. Mission accomplished; and he loo ked incredibly fast for a first -timer en route. "Th ro ugh the back sect ion in the asphal t , I was in heav en," Bostrom said. "I really liked it, and I was able to really fly through that secti on. But we definitely lost some ti me in th e dirt." He fell in th e same spot Kunzel did wh ile runn ing third , and that co st him a podium fin ish. "It' s a little bit dirt y because that side of the tire hasn 't been cleaned yet , and then I go in there , and I k ind of forget and trail the brake and crash . And it's full of mud, so I'm like, 'Duh!' It was pretty funn y." ®@ r o u n d s o r s ome thin g _.< . " ,_. TLD Honda's Jeremy McGrath was a no-show at Irwindale, as he was racing a supercross in Fresno, California. He finished second to Tyler Evans. Yamaha' s Doug He n ry put in an amazing lap in Superpole, beating out Jurgen Kunzel by a full second and multirace winner Jeff Ward by a second and a half. Funny thing Is, Henry helped develop the big Yamaha four-stroke he was racing at Irwindale six years ago, becoming the first four- stroke rider to win a supercross , a nationa l. and a national championship aboard the VZ450F's predecessor, the VZ400F. He probably never realized it would be raced on asphalt. Former SCCA Trans-Am Champion Tom my Kend a ll and former 125cc National Champion T ra vis P a strana were among the stars watching from the stands. Ryan Hughes gave Supermot o a shot. in the Supermoto Unlimited class. •At first I was a litt le unsure - I guess I just wasn't comfortable with it." Hughes said. "But once I started getting comfortable with it. then I started riding good. In the main event. the first corner and second comer. I took my balls out and set them aside - I was a lillie scared going into those comers. But as the race went on. I was just getting better and better and better. I came from pretty far back [14th on the first lap] up to seventh." Mike Metzger had a pretty bad crash in practice. and then he was black-flagged for jumping the start in his heat. It didn't look like it' d be a good day for him. •Actually. earlier today in practice I went down . and crashed faster than I ever have on my Supermoto bike going through tum one." he said. "' just lost the rear end and ended up taking a 200-yard sail into the haybales. It was pretty fun. Then I got a little excited and decided to drop the clutch when I saw the number one instead of waiting a couple more seconds in my heat. but I knew I messed up, so I slowed down and pulled a wheelie and let a bunch of guys by, and I figured the AMA would be cool with that. But they black-flagged me to make me pull over for my stop-end-qo penalty, and when I did that, Ben Carlson ended up passing me for second. It was my fault. " Fremont. Callfornia's Chad Cose put in a fine ride to win the Honda Red Riders Jr . Supermoto Challenge - a race in which 14 B-average students get a shot at racing identically prepared CRFI 50Fs. East Worchester, New York's A.J. Stay finished second. and Concord. Cahformas Sea n Jones finished third. The top three from each round of racing qualify to race for the overall Jr. Supermoto Challenge Championship at the season finale in las Vegas. c u e I e n e vv s N OVEM BER 12 ,2003 15