Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I Round s 1/2 SUPERMOTO :~ AMA Supermoto Championship tie bit bad, I was se co nd, and t hen Kurt pas sed me an d th en I was third . But 22 laps is a really long rac e . Micky made a mistake a nd t hen I passed him off of t he steel ta ble to p jump . T he n, for m e, it wa s really easy. I go my speed, and see t hat I was faster than t he other guys . For me , it was a w on derful race." Dymo nd led the m idd le la ps before letting Nico ll back by in t he dirt section , and the two KTM-moun ted riders he ld a huge gap over fo urt h- place d David Baffe le uf, the Fre nchman riding an almost completely stock KTM 525S MR. "1 was going good at the end ," Nicoll said. "1 had a bad batc h in the middle . I rode good at the start and th en lo st the German Red Bull KTM rider Kunzel arguably had the rhythm com ple tel y, and best weekend of a nyone a t Cop pe r Mou nta.n, He won the n picked it back up at t he both Supe rmoto Unlimited main events, in addition to e nd and go t Micky back." finish ing on th e podium in both of the Supermoto Dymond a nd main events, and even won Superpole on Sunday. Not a bad weekend. N icoll w ere evenly matched for most of the ra ce , the b ig d iffe rence being th eir diffe re nt lines t hrough the dirt co rner at the en d o f t he motocro ss se ction . Dymond chose t he o ut side berm line w hile Nico ll stayed t ight on t he flat inside line, w hich eventua lly pro ved to be t he right choice . At th e finish , it was Kunzel, Nico ll, Dymond, Baffeleuf, and Cassidy Anderson, also on a KTM, rou nd ing out the top five. SUPERMOTO RACE TWO holes hot, and Nicoll to take a commanding victory. Kunzel checked out on the field w hile Nicoll and Dymond waged war on each other the entire race. "T he Unlimited race, for me, was rea lly good ," Kunzel said. " My sta rt was a lit- 14 Sunday was a fresh start for everyone, and the man taki ng advantage of most w as it t he T hie bault. He grabbed th e holeshot fro m his front-row grid posit ion and proceeded to lead the fie ld for the first three laps though not w it ho ut substantial pressure from th e ve ry im patie nt Troy Lee Des igns duo of Hen ry and Ward . Henry tried to stuff T hiebau lt up the inside at the e nd of SEPTEMBER 8, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS the IOO-mph bac k straight but almo st e nded up tak ing o ut Ward, Thie bau lt and himself in t he p roc ess . Hen ry finally go t T hiebault o n the thi rd lap as they skied ove r the ta bleto p jum p, but Thiebau lt man aged t o battle throughout the race to hang on to a po dium finish . " It w as special for me to finish on the po dium," Th ieb ault said. " It has be e n a lo ng t ime since I was there last yea r. I led the race and it was so great - I felt the pressure beh ind me . I tried to keep a good line, but I knew it w o uld be difficult to wi n. I'm happy to finish second, ahead of Kunzel and just be hind Wa rd . It is real- My OWN 357 RACE GaryTrachy Iy great fo r me a nd fo r the CH M team , because t he y have believed in me. Every t ime t hey want, I race in the United Stat es. I ho pe to come and not do all of the races, bu t as ma ny as I can." He nry was on a m issio n, and he loo ked like a shoo -in for th e double header sweep, lead ing Thiebault, Ward, Dr ew, Kunzel and N ico ll. The two riders on the move were Red Bull KTM te ammates Kunzel and Nicoll, who both got by Drew by the sixth lap. Troy Lee 's Fillmore was also starting to put pressure on Dr ew, who was st ruggling w ith a so re ankle . "1 got a pretty good start and came - Supermoto 23rd Trachy was extremely fast all day on Saturday, making it into the Superpole competition by finishing second in his heat race. During the main, he collected a plastic hay-bale cover, which ultimately ou caused a brake fail ure. "Y always see people with those things and then they lose their rear brake," Trachy said. "I was going arou nd and thought for sure I was going to lose mine, and I kept on going and gOing, and it was fine. Then I lost it right before that big jump, and there was nothing that I could do. I put on my front brake as hard as I could and G'ed out and took a really big hit. I thought for sure that I was going to break both of my legs, the way that I hit." 6 Mark Burkhart Supermoto 9th "I got a crappy start because I'm having pro blems get ting my jetting right," Burkhart said. "The altitude is killing my bike. Igot a bad jump at the start, but I got by a bunch of people in the dirt on the first lap. I passed [Mike] Metzger and we were batt ling for a while, and the n I just lost the front end down in the dirt around the sweepe r area. I definitely should have finished better tha n where I did." 11 Chris Fillmore Supermoto 5th "1 got off to like a fourth place start. " Fillmore said. "1was pre tty happy with that from the second row, and then I kind of got tired. I'm just recovering from strep thro at. Then, battling it out with Steve [Drew], we were going togethe r and the n coming into that flat-trac k dirt co rner. I'm not sure what happened to him, but he clipped my rear end. I lost a little bit, but I had a great time." 45 Ben Carlson Supermoto Un limited 2 1st Supermoto DNS After not tra nsferring to the main through his heat race, Carlson suffered moto r failure as he tried to make his semifinal for the Supe rmota class, and then suffered a flat tire in the Unlimited Supermoto race while running fourth . "In my motorcycle career, the short one I've had, this has bee n the worst day I've ever had in my lif - as an e amateu r or anything," Carlson said. "1got a flat two corners after the metal jump - it may have pinched on the ramp or some thing like that. It was a bad deal. I felt like I was going pretty goo d. I figu red I would have fourt h wra pped up [in the Unlimited Supermoto], and just as I was on the m, it went flat." 43 Micky Dymond Supermoto Unlimited 3rd "1got the start - I had a great start and got out front," Dymond said. "1got a litt le pumped up from being out front. Whe n the tw o of those guys [Nicoll and Kunzel] got by, I fell in behind and got to grips again, and found some better braking points, and was riding a little better. It was going pretty good until Kurt [Nicoll] started falling off of the pace a little bit. i kind of fell back with him. and then he made a mistake. I think he was having some trouble with his front bra ke . He went wide and Igot by him for a while. Iactually got a little bit of room. and then I started to fade a little bit. I had some good laps and bad laps, but Kurt charged back and was able to get me back. I was happy to finish on the podium." 40th Anniversary

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