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/128243
Honda di rt-tracker Ja k e J ohn son , Red Bull HMC KTM te am m ates J oe Kop p and Chris Fillmo re, and Troy Lee Desi gns Honda's Jeremy McG ra th _ Car lson was the fir st to fal ter, lowsiding in about the same spot on the track wh ere Kunzel had crashed. Of this second gro up , McGrath was the man on the move . He pic k ed off Joh nson on la p six and th en lat ch ed onto th e ba c k" of form er AMA U .S. Flat T rack Champion Kopp, who was and the races I won was that I di dn 't make any mistakes at those other races, an d to day I m a d e some mistakes here , and those guys just got away from me," Ward said . " Ben got a lucky break . He wasn't really in contention , but I just didn 't get around that l e a d er [Thiebau lt) qu ick enough. He was go ing slower than me , and i f I had gotten around h im , I cou ld ha ve g ap p ed h im. Ben turned it up when he had to. My hat's off to him. He rod e great. " RED BULL SUPERMOTO Ward launch ed away first fr om h i s p o sit i o n i n the m iddle o f row o ne, w ith CHM E xh aust /M cAll i st er Motorsports Honda 's Alexandre T h i ebau lt of Fr ance sec ond, followed by Henry , Red Bull HMC KTM's Kurt Ni coll and Superpole winner Jurgen Kunzel of Germ any on another Red Bull HMC KTM. Bostrom was running fifth . Supermoto specialist Th iebau lt immediatel y attacked Ward, and th e Frenchman stuffed his way int o the lead on the inside in the right-hander that led to the dirt section. Amazing ly, he woul d hold it for nine lap s. World Superm oto number two Boris Chambon was one of the first contenders to crash out of the race, the Frenchman smack ing the ground and injuring his hip in th e dirt section on lap two. " It was not so good ," Chambon sa id . "I make a big mistake in the last jump in the off-road, and I pass over the bike and crash so ha rd on my hip. It was finished fo r me, but that is th e racing. It was still ve ry exciting for m e to be here." Ironically, a lap later, Kunzel, t he o ther of KTM's World ringers, clicked Grant Langston pulled off one of the bigger wins of his career with a victory in the KTM Unlimited Supennoto Final. Langston led a KTM sweep of the first four positions In the race. wheels with hi s factor y raci ng boss, Nicoll, and took a dive into the flowe r bed that lined the ins ide of turn two . The two -tim e German Sup erm o t o Champion remounted in last place. " I have no distan ce t o Ku rt, an d th is is a problem for m e, and I tou ch the cu rb , and I crash ," Kunzel said, hardly satisfied in the knowledge that he could h av e run with the leaders. "Ye ah, ye ah, fas te st man, bu t no results. You ca n dr ive oh -so fast , but it' s no t so good then. I hope next year I ca n do m uch better. " T hie bault continu ed to establish a fast pa ce up fr ont , upping the race pace int o the high 1:37 s on lap s three thro ugh five as he tried to get away from Ward , H en ry, N ic o ll and Bostrom. th e American Honda rider abo ut 12 leng ths beh ind N icol l. T h e fro nt four pulled clear of fift h-placed Red Bull HMC KTM rid er La r r y Pegram , who led a string o f r i der s, including 1st Racing Honda's Fab ien Roll and , Pacific o/Saunders Su zu ki ' s Mark Avard , Red Bull HMC KTM' s Benny Carlson, Moro ney' s/John son batt li ng with Fill m ore. Then Fillmore crashed on lap 10. Back up front, Thiebault and Ward m anaged to put a gap on the next pair, Henr y and Bo st rom , the latter having slipped past Nicoll as the former World motocross star began to fatigue under t he stress o f running back -to -beck finals (N icoll had finished third in the Unlimited Supermoto final held earli er) . Bostrom then went after Henry , making a pass in th e left -handed turn 10 to take over third pla ce. Th e rac e got more fra ntic from there. Ward made a bid for the lead on lap nin e, trying t o drive pa st Th iebault out of the left -han der that led onto the long back straightaway, only to yield after ge tting into a big slide u nder acceleration . As the two continued to dice it u p , Bos t ro m p ulled in rig ht behind Ward , closing the gap between th em qu ickly, as did Henr y and Nicoll, maki ng for a five- rider lead battle . Ward shot past Thiebau lt aga in, this t im e under the b ra k es in the righthan de r aft er the down hill jump . T he Frenc hman was game, t hou gh , and he repassed Ward before they reached the infield straightaway. But whe n Th i ebaul t bobb led in the lefthander before the finish line , both Ward and B o str o rnq o t past him . Befo re he could reg ro u p , he wo uld also succu mb to Henry and Nicoll , droppi ng fro m firs t to fifth . "I have a good start from the second line, and I see that I was really, really fast on the firs t lap ," the French ma n said. "I pass Ward, and I try to keep a good rhythm . Afte r 10 laps, I was too exci ted and make m istak es, and War d a n d Henr y p as s m e . B o st ro m a nd Nicoll pass me also. I am disappointed, but fifth is good for th e team ." N i c oll wo u l d land fourt h, h app y wit h the result. n eye I e " I' m really happy with the wa y I rode, " Nicoll said . " First, I had great riders around me , and they were going the same speed as me . Second, I was pretty beat. Two 14 -lap mains were a bit m uch, but a competitor." Bos t rom pass ed Wa r d by fl a tt racki ng it in underneath hi m at the end of the long back straight away on lap 12 . Ward retaliated in the dirt sec tion on the same lap, ret aki n g t he le ad only to bobb le slightl y on the I'm kicker that led the riders out of the dirt section. Bostro m passed Ward fo r good at the end of the long straightawa y a lap later. " T h a t ' s a big , kind of dirt track /road -race corner ," Bostrom said. "You kind of dirt track. it in there and then j ust sli ngshot around and do the road ra ce thing to set them up . That was my section ." Before Ward could answer , Henry got him on the infield st raightaway , taki ng away second p lace just before the start of lap 13 . Henry took one final shot at Bostrom in the dirt sweeper after the tabl etop jump , but it wasn 't to be, the Yamaha rider tagg ing the ba ck of B ostrom 's bik e and stand ing it up as he drifted to the outs ide of the corn er. He wou ld gat her it up before Ward co uld attack and salvage second place. B ostrom rode th e fi na l l ap like there w as no to morrow, rew ard ing hi msel f with the fastest lap of the race . Only later did he admit to being spooked un necessaril y . " T ha t [l a st lap] was incred ible," Bostrom said. "The funny th ing is I was chasing my own shadow out there . The way that the lights were hitting the track, I thought Wardy or Henry was right on m e down the lo ng straightaway. I was ki nd of drafting m yself: Henry and Ward we re followed by Nicoll and Thiebault. Kunzel was cle arly the fastest man on the racetrack in the seco nd half of the final, though, as he m ana g ed to lan d sixth afte r h i s early race crash. T hen came McGrath , who worked his way to seventh , one spot ahead of Pegram . A vard brought the lone Suzuk i in the fie ld hom e ninth, ahe ad of J ohnson , who round ed out the to p 10 and, with Kopp 12th , wound up as the hi gh est-fin ish in g fu ll-time dirt -tracker in th e race. e _ S • D EC EMB ER 3 , 2003 9