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in Kawasaki Tearn Green colo rs.
TIle O pen Expert main was se t to be a
thri ller, with two number-one plate holders
in attendance: STTARS ch am p Mar k
Ce mic ky, on his Volcom Honda 450, and
SupermotoUSA's Leonardo "Pucho" Bagnis,
on a big Vertemati 570. Also on the grid
were Thiebault, Call an d Southern
California supermotards Gary "Silent H"
Tra chy, on his Hah m Motors ports
CRF450R, and Am erican Sup ercamp's
Steve Drew.
Call got a superb start, an d he led the
pack into the first tum, follo wed by Bagnis
and Thiebault. Bagnis got by Call a n the
back straight, and then Thiebault slipped by
as well, under hard braking in the sharp lefthan der just be fore the start/finish line .
Bagnis, Th ie bault and Call were already well
ahead of the pack at the en d of lap one, with
josh "Spo nso rs Wanted" C hisum, Do n
Biava and Trachy fighting it out behind them.
At the front , Bagnis and Thiebault diced,
and on lap three, Th ie bault got a look up the
inside of tum one, but Bagnis shut the door
on him and held on to the top spot. Bagnis'
East Hills Motorsports Vertemati appeared
to be more than a match for Thiebault's 45 0
on the straight, but the Frenchman's nimble
bike was unmatched on the brakes. O n lap
four, Thiebault finallygot around Bagnis, but
Bagnis stuck right with him, letting the
Euro pean pilot know that he was n't going
away. Call watched from a close third, and
Trachy squee zed past Chisum to oc cupy
fo urth . As Thiebault led into th e dirt section,
Bagnis cut to the inside and pulled alongside .
Then the unthinkable hap pen ed for the
Ve rt e mati rider: He stalled and cou ld not
restart his bike.
"I passed the Ve rte mati, but he stayed
ve ry close to me," Thie bault rec o unted .
'Wte r half a lap , I loo ked back, expecti ng
him to be at least 10 met e rs be hind me , but
he was right by my side! As we e ntered the
dirt section, he ran into the side of my
Hon da and stalled his bike ."
Thiebault then had some breathing
room, as Call was not right on his tail, so
there was little press ure on his CHM teammate for the last lap. Trachy took the final
podium spo t, with Chisum, Biava and
Yarrow behind him.
With a great number of evenly mat ched
four-strokes on the grid, Sunday 's 250cc
main provided the closest race of the supermota weekend . Entries in the 250cc class
have been growing dramatically, as more
and more racers take advantage of the
newest 250cc thumpers from japan. The
eight-lap final saw a fro nt row packed with
new talent, as well as some veteran supermotards who have taken to the smailer
bikes like kids to ice cream. C urri e's
Kawasaki 250F sat next to Matt Purs ley's
lone Yamaha. with the Kawasakis of Mike
Camp, Trachy and jeff Hoeppne r rounding
out the first row.
When the green flag dropped , C urrie
made his po le position count by leading the
group into the first tum, with Purs ley and
Trachy in ho t purs uit. In the dirt section,
several m idpack racers came together in a
pile-up , but the comerw orkers were right
on to p of them, and everyone got back into
the race. On lap five , the savvy Pursley, of
Fat Boy Racing fame, tucked in right behind
Currie and drafted past him o n the back
straigh t. Pursley's Yamaha appeared to handle well, but it was obvious tha t he was
down on pow e r compared to the green
bikes . Pursley led briefly, but Trachy got by
him in the dirt section on lap six, and then
Currie did likewise. On the white-flag lap ,
Pursley gamely fought past Currie again, but
as the three leaders finished up the final lap,
C urrie swapped positions w ith Pursley one
last time. Trachy topped the podium, with
Currie second and Pursley third . Behind the
top three came Camp, aboard the 3
Brothers Racing Kawasaki, followed by the
green machine of Hoeppner, with Bobby
Fang , on the top Suzuki, finishing in sixth.
After the race, Trachy was stoked about
his victo ry, and he spoke highlyof the racers
w ith whom he'd been dicing.
"I'm used to racing with Matt Pursley,"
Trachy said. "We so rt of know w hat each
other will do, so I trust him. I was getting a
little frustrated , but I waited for t he opportunity, and I picked them off when I go t the
chance." Trachy also spo ke highly o f his
Marzocchi suspension and of the 250cc
class as a w ho le: "Th e 250 class is great fo r
any leve l o f rider. It really teaches yo u a lot.
You learn to carry comer speed, and it
translates well into riding the bigge r bikes ,
too. Yo u learn to ride smoother and not
bind the bike up in comers."
Sunday 's main event was the cash -paying
450cc race. In additio n to the top pilots who
rode on Saturday, jeff Ward made the trip
up fro m San juan Capistrano to test his
Timex{Troy Lee Designs Honda CRF45 0R
against the competition. In the first heat
race, Ward was matched up against local
boy Call, "Flyin' French man" Th iebault , and
a very de te rm ined Bagnis, now riding a
450cc Honda instead of his big Vertemati.
Call led from the start, with Bagnis,
Th iebault, Ward , Steve Drew and iMolO'S
Erich 5ho fstallgivingchase. Call worked the
fast sections o n his Motostrano Ho nda
CRF450 R, while Bagnis and Th iebault
looked for ways around him . Thiebault got
around Bagnis toward the en d of lap one,
but Pucho passed him right back o n the
fro nt straig ht. Ward spent the early laps sitting in fou rth spot, wa tch ing the to p three
guys sort themselves out .
At the end of lap three, Thiebault
attempted to outbrake both Call and Bagnis
but overshot the comer and lost th ird to
Ward , who then started gaining on the two
leaders. Bagnis squeezed by Call, and on the
last lap Ward did as well, so at the checkers
it was Bagnis, Ward and Call, in that order.
In the B heat, Cycle Pro's Biava dominated the race early on his CRF, with Chisum
and Yarrow chasing after him. Pinit's Don
Hart was right up there on lap one as well,
but a second- lap bobble dropped him back
to sixth. Having worked up to th ird after a
rough start, Trachy started putti ng pressure
on Ch isum , but Chisum picked up the pace ,
and bo th he and Trachy gained on Biava. On
the final lap, C hisum passed Biava for first
po sition , but Trachy didn't have enough
d rive , and he had to settl e for third. Yarrow
ran a solid race and finished fourt h.
Infineon Raceway posted a $6000 purse
fo r the 450cc main event, and the guys on
the grid were hungry for it. In addition to
$2000 for the top spo t on the podium, racers were paid back to 12th position , which
meant that everyone would be holding tight
to their spot on the track. When starter
Dan Argano lined the racers up on the grid ,
it was a who's-who of superrnoto stardom .
Ward occ upied the m iddle of the front row,
flanked by Biava and Ch isum. On the pole
was Bagnis, transitioning effortlessly from
his usual Vertemati mount to the fast
Yoshimura-tuned Honda. On the outside of
row one was Call, who has really been picking up his game lately. Thiebault, Trachy,
Yarrow and D rew filled out row two, w ith
24 others completing the field behi nd them .
The green flag flew, and Ward got the
ho leshot, with Ch isum and Trachy right
behin d him. A huge first-lap pile- up in the
dirt co lle cted Bagnis and Drew, dropping
bo th fro m contention. Thiebault got a
rough start but immedi ately picked up
momentum. O n lap three, he battled with
Trachy, blow ing past him on the back
straig ht, o nly to be repassed in t he dirt section. The French rider passed Trachy again
on the back stretch and made it stick. O n
lap fou r, T hie baul t
passed Chisum for
second, w hile Ward
ting in the fastest laps o f the day, but on lap
seven, the banked "wall of dea th" in the dirt
section claimed another victim : Thiebault,
who stalled his Ho nda. Though he tried
frantically to restart, he lost at least 15
places . As the top three - Ward, Trachy and
Chisum - settled in for the long, 14-1aprace,
Call and Biava diced for fourth. Biava started to fade after Call passed him on lap 10,
and he let Hart slip by for fifth position as
well . As the laps wound down, Ward maintained his pace and took the checkered flag
with a gigantic lead. Trachy was second,
with Chisum third .
After the race, Ward spoke highly of the
event and the circuit.
'T hat was the fastest I've ever gone o n a
motocross bike," he enthused. " TIle track
was great! I w ish the AMA would have one
of their nationals here." He also said that
co nsiste ncy was his main goal: "I just tried to
click off faste r laps every time. I think I was
turning [one minute and] 23 .5s. I co uld have
gotten down into the [one minute and]
215."
Th e othe r racers on the podium shared
Ward 's opin ion about the track.
"The dirt section was great," Chisum
said, "and the paved part of the track - I was
just hanging on ! It was really fast! And Ward
was so fast. too - he was just gone."
Though the race organizers had to co ntend w ith a tightly regimented track schedule and some logistical surprises, the event
itself w ent off great. With almost 200 race
en tries for the two-day event, the growing
po pularity of superrnoto was obvious, and
the opportunity to race at a brand- new
ven ue was a th rill in itself. TIle lo ng, highspeed track was a new experience for many
supermotards, too, but most took to it
immediately. And the spectators were wellserved also, with superb vantage po ints for
all of the action . In the words of one race
fan, "I hope the AMA Pro rounds tum out
this good!"
eN
INflNEON RACEWAY
SoNoMA, CAuFoRNIA
RtsuLJS: MAy 1·2, 2004
NOV, I. H,ke Ump (Kaw); L Jeff Hoeppne.. (Kaw). J.
G.rth DoI1a> (Han ); 1. Hitch R.khanft (Hen) S. H;chaelVa