Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

good. Conditions were very good. and the orga niza tion ' was very good . I think I will come ba ck next year. Another of Red Bull HMC KTM's young stars, Fillmore, ch arged his way t? sixth after runnin g as far back as 11 th on the opening lap . Avard was seventh . aboard his Kern Knight Ra ci ng KTM. Th en came another Ea stHllls Mot ors po rts /Harring ton Verterna ti; t his on e wit h Leona rdo Bagnis aboa rd. Red BullHMC KTM rid~rs' Mickey Dymond and Peg ra m round.ed outthetopIu. Only two riders co nteste d the m ain e~ent aboa rd Japane se moto rcycles . Wh it e Brothe rs /Mota Master/ Brent Honda 's.Steve Drew ran ninth ear ly a board h is modifie d X R6 50 L befo re slipping to l lth.. pro Circuit/Matiase vich Kawasa ki KX500-mounted 'J eff Matiasevic h was h edited with 23rd afte r co mpleting just three laps. eN Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. Nevada Results: November Zl , Z003 (Ro und6 at 61 RED BUll sUPERMaTO HEAT I (6 laps; 10 ride top 4 to Final): 1. BorisChambon (KTM); 2. Larry rs. Pegram (KTM); 3. Mark Avard (Suz); 4. Josh Chisum (Ho n);5. Fabi n RoUand (Han); 6. Jake Johnson (Ha e n); and langSton (4) batUed lead in the KTM Unlimited final. Langston was faster in the dirt and man -mad e off-road sections than Carlson , who wa s faster ' on th e pavement. Langston passed Carlson for the lead Over the steel steJ>:-up jump. .. or 2. Ben Bostrom (Han); 3. Brett Lande. (Hon); 5: Mi Trechy -(Hon) : 7. Laurent Burton fYam); 9. Travis Mark s Time: 9 min.• .? ?ll sec . RED BUl l SUPERM OTO HEAT 4 (6 laps; 9 ncers. . top 4 to Final): 1. J urgen Kunzel (KTM); 2. Doug Henry (Vam) ; 3. Joe Kopp (KTM); 4, Steve Drew (Han); 5. Mickey Dymond (i\TM) ; 6. Matt Pursley (V. m); 7. Jason Baldwin (Han); 6. Cory C.II (Hon); 9, Ro bert Miller (Vam). Time: 9 min ., 50 .99 sec; RED BUl l SUPERMOTO SEMI 1 (4 laps; 11 rider s ~ top 4- to Final ): 1. Mik~ Metzger ( Hon ); 2. Aaron Howe (Han); 3. Jeff Wood (Han) ; 4. M. tt Burton (Ya m); 5 ; Mark Cernick y ( Hon); 6 . Steve Beattie .( Hon); 7 .. Laurent Begueliri .(Hon) ; 8 . T ravis (Hon): .?Nick-Daniels( Yam ): 8 . Steve Beattie -(Hon) ; 9 -.Kevin $chw antt (Sua). Ti me : 9 mln ., 48 .22 sec. RED BUll SUPERMOTO HEAT 3 (6 laps; 9 riders. top 4 to Final): L Alexandre Thiebeult (Hen) : (Ver); 9. Mickey Dymond (KTM); 10. Larry Pegram ' (KTM); II. Steve Drew (Hon); 12. Ryen Hughes (KTM) : 13. Calvin Andlovec (KTM); 14. Chuc.k McCarty (KTM); 15. Chuck Sun (KTM); 16. Mark Cerrilcky (KTM); 17. Guy Giroux (KTM); 16. Derrick Lucchesi (Ver); 19. Jeff H.rrington,,(Ver); 20. Phil Gee (verj. 21. Cesey Yarrow (Hbg); 22. Gal)' Trachy KTM UNUMITED SUPERMOTO HEAT. 1 (6 laps; 14 rlders, top 6 to Final): L Kurt Nicoll (KTM); 2Orant Lenqston (KTM); 3, Benny Car1son(KTM); 4. Joe Kopp (KTM); 5. Steve Drew (Han); 6. Mickey Dymond (KTM); 7; Gary Trach y (KTM) ; 8. Jeff Harringto n (Vet );· g .oDave Arnold . (Hbg): ;JO.•Cra ig Mason (KTM ); 1 l J'Dettick Lucchesi (Ver); 12. Mar k T ime: 10 min .• .54 sec. (Ya m );.? Fillmore (KTM); 5. Jeff Wood (Han); 6. Aaron Howe (KT M ) ; 5., Gerald Deleptne (Ver) ; 6 ,; 't:;:hris FUlmore (KTM);7" M ark .Allatd{KTM) ;· 8 . Leo nl1r ~o ' B~ gl'll s . (Hon) ; 11. Kevin Schwantz (Suz} , Time: 10 rrdri.. 5.96sec. RED BUl l SUPERMaTO HEAT 2 (6 laps; 9 Margin of Victory: 1.2 59 sec. Winner's Average Speed: 3~.6m ph Winner's Average Lap Time: 1 m in.. 3? .9 23 sec; Cernicky (KTM): 13, Mike Aldridge (v er): 14. Guy Giroux (KTM). Burkhart (Va'll); 10 MarkCemlcky (Han). . riders, top 4 to Final) : L Jeff W ard (Hen); 2. Kurt Nicoll (KT M); 3 . J erem y McGrath ( Hon); ·4. Chris (Ver); g. CraigMa.on (KTM); 10.Tyler Sandell (KTM); n . Dave Amold (Hbg); 12. Mike Aldridge (ver). Time: 7 min ..T .GS sec. KTM UNUMITED SUPERMOTO FINAL (24 Ieps: 24 riders): I. Gront Lanqston (KTM): 2. Benny Carlson (KTM); 3. Kurt .Nicoll (KTM); 4. JoeKopp (Hon); 19. MattBurton (V. m): 20. Ch Fillmore (KTM); ris 21. Steve Drew (Han); 22; Ben Carlson (KTM 23, ny ); JeffWood(Hon);24. Boris Chamoon (KTM). Time : 22 mln..-50.92 see. Marks (Han): 9. Nick Dentels (Vam); 10. Gory Trachy Time: 6 rnln., ' 50. 11 t sec. RED BUll SUPERMOTO SEMI 2 (4 laps: 10 riders ; top 4 to Final): L Jake Joh nson ( Hon);2. Fabien Rolland (Hon) ; 3 . Matt Pursley (Yam) ; 4 ; Don Hart(Hon); 5. Mickey Dymond(Han); 6. MarkBurkhart 7. Don Hart (Hon); 8., Casey Yarrow (Hen) : 9 . Ma rk 14 Brett Land (Hon); 15. Mik~Meager (Han) ; 16. Don . es Hart (Han); 17 . Matt Pursley (Yam ); 18 .' Aaron: Howe Casey Yarrow .(Hon);-e. Jason _Beldwtn _ (Han); 9. Cory Call (Han); 10 R . obertMiner (Vam). Time : 6 min" 43 .4 sec. RED BULL SUPERMOTO FINAL (24 laps; 24 riders): I. BenBos trom (Han); 2. Doug Hen (Vam); 3. ry JelT Ward (Han); 4, Kurt Nicoll (KTM); 5, Alexandre Th iebault (Han) ; 6; Jurgent(unzel (KTM); 7; .Jeremy McGrath (Hon): 6. Larry P egram (KTM); 9. M.rk Avard (Suz ); 10. Jake Johnson ( Hen) : 11. Fabien Rolland (Hon); 12. Joe Kopp (KTM): J3. Josh Chisum (Hon): BRIEFLY. •• D espil e having broken his co llarbo ne just a week earlier, moto star of Ihe future Mike A le ssi bested a to ugh field of co mpetitors in the Honda Red Riders J unior S upermoto Ch allenge. The t Syear-old C aliforn ian dom inat ed the race , le ading from start to finish. After dirt-track er J ohn Lew is crashed out of sec ond place. the battle for third position came dow n to a fierce scrap between Colter Dimick and Aaron King , the latt er the son of factory Harley dirt I rac k racer Rich King. The two clas hed in the final dirt section. wi th Dimick hitting the ground hard and requirinq medical att entio n. King survived a flying W over one of Ihe dirt kickers and recovered to take the spot. behind .Jamie Siever. As part of the spoils, all t hre e po diu m fi nishers we re aw ard ed the ir C RF150 race machines by American Honda. A fter winning the A MA Red Bull Supermo to Championship, Ben Bostrom commented on the turn of events that added to his competitivene ss in Las V egas. " I wanted to co me and do this, but we didn 't eve n have a shot at it. " said Bo st rom . who qualified thro ugh the Irwi ndale round. " Carmichael Hon da was putt ing me tog et her a bike for here, but then the ltearnl Hon da boy s sl epped up and said. 'Look. you're our rider. W e 're going to build you a bike .' It was like, 'Yeah!' So they built a bike, and we went testing about fo ur or five times before the event and that really helped out. Big thanks to Honda and big thanks to Red Bull for putting KTM UNUMITED SUPERMOTO HEAT 2 (6 laps; 14 riders, top 8 to Final ): 1. Jurgen Kunzel(hiM); 2. Gerald Deleplne (v er): ~ .Larry Pegram (KTM); 4. All of the Import ed Wo rld S upe rm oto sta rs said thai they were impressed with the Red Bull Supermoto A-G o-Go, especially Belgian Ger ald D elepine. " The track is good ," Delepine said . "It is possible for pass, " Deleplne said. "It is wide, and it has two high spe eds l straiqhtaway sl . It is the same trac k as in t he Fren ch [Fra nce] a nd in Ita ly . sma ll trac ks . G e rmany . same track. fas t an d technical like this. Plus, Belgium is very cold. It is zero, ice. Here. sun, is perfect for me. This is my first time in Las Ve gas. It is very. very big." AMA Pro Racing cha irman of the board and PJ t O ils president P ..J. Harvey said that the sanctioning body was pleased wi th how we ll the Las Ve gas race had been rece ived by the mot orcycle industry. "This is an incredible develop ment. supermo to . and w e're very proud of this particular venue, " Harvey said. " It has gotten publicity all over the co untry, and I think we' ll see cover- Margln of-V ictory: 2 .526 sec. Winner's Average Speed: 38. 1 mph Winner's Average Lap Tim e: 1 min., 39. 104 sec. Mar k A vard (KT M); 5 ; Leo nardo Ba gnjs ( Ve t) ;6 . HOND A Ryan Hughes (KTM); 7. Chuck McCarty (KTM); 8. 10. Casey Ya rrow (Hbg); I L Chuck Sun (KTM): 12. Phil Gee (Ver); 13. Tyler Sandell (KTM): 14. Chris Fillmore (KTM). Tim e: 9 min., 56 .7 1 sec. . KTM UNUMITED SgPERMOTO SEMI (4 laps: 12 riders; top 8 to Final) : 1. Chris Fillm ore (KTM ); 2. Ca sey Yarrav.' (Hbg); 3. Jeff Ma tia sevich (Kaw); 4 . Chuck Sun (K TM); 5 . Guy Giroux (KTM) ; 6 . Mark Cemicky (KTM); 7. Darrick Lucchesi (Ver): 8 . Phil Gee age globally. The interest ing Ihing abo ut it is that il attracted the attention of a lot more overseas riders [than the three in attendance] w ho wa nte d to race but could not bec ause they didn 't qualify ." Harvey said that Ve gas appears to be the new bench, mark eve nt for the AMA Red Bull Superrno to Series. "When you co mpare this round to our first effo rt at Laguna Seca. it certa inly doe s," Harvey said. " We 're very pr oud of our Dallas event as we ll. This lracel has go t people talking, and it should. Las Vegas is a great place to hold one. and it's hilling the nght age gro up. RED RIDERS J R. SUPERMOTO CHALLENGE (6 laps: 15 riders) : 1. Mike Alessi; 2 . Jam ie Siever; 3. Aa ron King; 4 . Carter Myer s; 5 . Matt Weidman; 6. John Lewis (Han); 7. Lucas Scherb: 8 . Cole Wal sdorf; 9. Bobby Fang: 10. Sean Jones; 1 I . Charly Rupprecht; 12. Logan Scherb; 13 . A.J . Stay; 14. Chad Case; 15 . Colter Dimick. Time: 11 min.. 41 .22 sec. Margin of Victory: 3 .252 sec. Winner' s Average Speed: 32 .3 mph Winner' s Average Lap Tim e: 1 m in.. 56. 87 sec. Calvin An dlovec (KTM ); 9. Jeff Matiasevich {Ka w); U pon see ing the trac k layo ut and fe eling th e buzz of the Las Ve gas eve nt. South Bo st on Sup ermoto winner Doug Chan " dler admitt ed to bei ng disappointed at being unable to take part, having bro ken his left ankle in a freak cr ash at the Col umbus , O hio , ro und o f th e series . " Yeah, I wa s kind of hoping thai it wa sn't going to be as good as this so that I wo uldn't be missing It so much . but this is not good for me.,. Chandler said. " But that' s how it goes. I'll get throug h it. and if nothing else I' ll have a lot of time this w inte r to ge t ready for ne xt year. I can already walk now - it' s ju st that I'm a little quicker with my c rutc hes . I should be okay in about thr ee wee ks. " There 's lots of interest and lots of exc itement. " O ne of th e lesser known but emerging stars of the new A MA Red Bull Supermoto Series , RAD Racing/Disanto Yamaha rider M ark B urkh art c am e i nt o La s V egas ti ed w it h J erem y M cG rath for fift h In the qualifie r series standings , bul his day in V ega s started on a much more sour note . Burkhart missed all of practice aft er his YZ450 F s engine failed at the sl art of the first session. " I we nt out for fir st practice, and we had a little probl em with the bike, " Burkhart said. " It wa sn't running quite right. so we came in and made some adjustment s, and w hen we wen t to start it. it wa s like it wa s locked up. Hopefull y we can get my back-up motor in it and go out and have a go od race and maybe pass so me people In t he It eam] point s." B urkhart w as one o f tw o unoff icially supporte d Yarnaha ride rs in Red Bull co mpetition, the other being Doug Henry . "Y amaha has helped us with part s. and last race they had Iw o faclory guy s working on my bike. W e haven't had too much luck with our mo tors the last co uple races, but I love the bike when it's running. II' s aweso me." on this eve nt. " He finished seventh in the Red Bull Sup erm ol o final, but .Jere my M c G rath said he w as pleased with his race . "I had a grea t race, " M cGrath said. "I was loving it. I got so hosed on t he first lap, and I go t passed by a bunch of guys. W orking up to seven th wa s killer. I was sto ked . I just need more experience, and I need to ride more, and l thmk we' re under powe red . really. W e're learn, ing, and we're doing our own program here , and it's hard. You've go t t he fac tory Hond a, wi t h Ben [B o st ro mJ. and the fac tory KTM s. I' m not going to expect myself to be as goo d at this [as supercrossl. I'm re tired, and I' m having fun. I had a blast. The race , for me , was really fun. " ( KT M): 23 ~ Jeff Matla sevic h ( Ke w ): 24 . Jurg en . Kunzel (KTM). TIm e: 23 min.. 7 <4 sec. 6 Team Yamaha racing manager Ke ith M cCarty was on hand at Las Vegas to suppo rt Burkhart and Doug Henry in their quest for the Red Bull Supermo to title. Wilh Yamaha recent ly announcing its '04 race team to the media a few days befo re the race, Big Blue still does not have an official superrnoto team in the States. " W e'lI continue with our factory-support ed teams for now - no big truc k or all t hat kind o f ja zz - but ce rta inly we 're go ing to be involved here, no que sti on abo ul it , " M cC art y said . M cC art y add ed that he wa s impressed w it h th e effo rt put into t he Las Ve gas round. " I think that they' ve done a terrific job here, " he said. " There ' s a lot of electr icity ; the trac k is really nice. It' s ju st fun to be here righl now . There are a lot of goo d riders, and the championsh ip is anybo dy's camp. " The beginning of the day didn't start out like I he end of the day for e v e n t ual KT M U n! i ml t e d S uperrnoto Cham pi on G r ant La ngston . The South A fr;can survived a harrowing high-speed Incident In practice afte r his front brake pads fell out. " The pin hoidlng Ihe fron l brake pads fell out. and w hen that happened, I lost the front brake pads, " Langston said. " It happened at the end of a straight - and luck ily not the back straight. where we're doing 120 mph , because that co uld have been really ugly. I came into the turn - and you try and brake as late as possible - and when I grabb ed the fro nt brake lever, it felt like I was grabbing the clutch . It was all soft. I hit the rear brake and thought that I was going to highside because Ihe back end came aro und. Then I let go of the back brake and tri ed to rail so me of th o se water barr iers [t hai lined the track] like a ber m. Inst ead ! bounced up and hit one before comple ting one full lap in the first practice sess ion. "W hen I went into the dirt section on the first lap, there we re about fou r or five guys in front of me. and I could see that they we re going to bottleneck , so I just went for the fro nt brake a little," Schwanl z said. " The front ju st pu she d. and I st uck my righ t fit into the ground hard. I never even crashed." Schwantz said that wou ld see abo ut getting an MR I done on M onday to de te rmine the extent of the injury. No t to be outdo ne by anyo ne, KTM put fort h a massive effort at La s V ega s, wor king out of two semis w ith 10 rider s. including HM C regulars Ben ny C arlson, M ick ey Dym ond . C hris Fillmore, J o e Ko pp and Larr y Peg ram . M X rac ers Ry an Hu gh e s and Gra nt Langst on . and Europeans Boris Charnb on, J urgen Kunzel and K urt N ico ll. "Su pe rmo to is the cor e of ou r busi ness in Europe ," said N icoll, KTM 's worl dwide racing director. "W e sell a 1 1 of supe rmoto bike s In Europe already , and we have a lot of 0 race -ready supermoto bik es to se ll. so if we can get superrno to going in th e U.S ., we' re the re . It' s really in ou r best interest to go along w ith Red Bull and pro mot e super moto in the U.S . II' s kind o f a s uck- il-a nd-see fi rst e ffort. W e 've go t a b unc h o f Am erican riders and a bunch of European riders, and we won't necessarily run this many ride rs ne xt year. W e'lI make a mo re conc ent rat ed effort. " Ryan Hughes was tentative in only his seco nd Red Bull Supe r, molo appearance, but the A MA 125cc N ational M X runner-up appeare d to get more comfortable aboard his U nlimited ride as practice wen t on. "l 'rn feeling bett er, " Hughes said. " II takes me a w hile to ge t co mfortable and learn new trac ks . I'm just taking it a little at a time. and if I feel good . then I'll go for it. If I do n't , then I' m just going to have fun. Even if I feel really good , I know that I'm not goin g to W in because there' s a lo t of fast guys here. ,. Realist ic Ryno put in a re spectable finish , landing 12th in t he Unlimi l ed Superrno to final. For mer AMA D irt Trac k roo kie of the year .Jake .John son is another dirt tracker wh o showe d what he was capable of at Las Ve gas . W ell off the pace in pract ice. Johnson co ntinued to step it up. ultimately finishing l Oth In t he Red Bull Superrnoto final. " I wasn't expec ting that at all." Johnson said. "When you're start, ing fr om t he fifth row , yo u see a lo t o f guys in fr o nt of yo u. M cG rath was behind me . and that gave me the confide nce to know that I co uld run with these guys. I'm happy." square w ith my shoulder. I'm fine , but it was a bit of a scare." e An oth er nonst art er wa s forrner 500 cc W orld Champ ion Kevin Schwantz , the Yo shimura Suzuki rider Injur ing his right knee ye I e n e vv s D EC EM B ER 3 . 2003 13

• Cover