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/128342
. . . .roy lee Designs Honda's Jeff Ward and Red Bull KTM 's Jurgen Kunzel were the big winners at Music City Motorple x in Nashville. Tennesse, during round three of the AMA Supermoto Championship series, Ward earning his second Supermoto victory in three rounds and Kunzel winning his third straight Unlimited Supermoto final before a sparse crowd. The 43-year-old Ward chased his Troy Lee Designs Honda teammate and Nashville Superpole winner Doug Henry for the first 10 laps of the 24-lap Supermoto final and then capitalized when Henry stalled near the big tabletop to take the lead, Ward went on to build an insurmountable advantage over the other Troy Lee Designs Honda rider in the field, 17-yearold Chris Fillmore. winning the race by what appeared to be five seconds, but what AMA clocks showed to be about one second. "It's never easy, but this one became easy because I was given a gift," Ward said. "I was just trying to save my energy and be smooth, but I still had a good pace going. I caught back up and tried to put a little pressure on him [Henry], and he made a couple mistakes and stalled it. My teammate Chris [Fillmore1 did a good job, and now I've got two wins and the points lead is stretching a little bit. My bikes are perfect. I can't ask for anything more. We're flawless ~ right now." After falling in Superpole, Fillmore came from row two to finish second, while Kunzel, who stalled during his heat race and later advanced into the main event through a semi, stormed through the field from row five to finish th ird. Ward 's win gave him a 12-point advantage over the consistent-running Kunze! in the series points standings. Ward leads the 29-year-old Kunzel, 73-61. Frenchman Alexandre Thiebault, who is doing double dUty in both the AMA and World Supermoto series. and who finished fourth ~=il~iat Nashville, isthird in the ' ~ series standings,with 58 points. Despite his miscue in Superrnotc, Kunzel once again capped a consistent weekend by charging to another Unlimited Supermoto victory aboard his Red Bull KTM. Kunzel came from the pole and was never really challenged in the 24-lap race, pulling clear of Vertemati rider Leonard Bagnis and All Access KTM's MickyDymond . Bagniscould not eat into Kunze!'s lead. though he did appear set to finish second. only to be black-nagged late in the race when his bike started smoking badly all the way around the track . Dymond. who crashed early but quickly remounted. moved to second . with HMC KTM's Benny Carlson advancing to third place. Like Ward in Supermoto, Kunzel has built a double-digit points lead in Unlimited Supermoto. He currently leads Dymond , 76-62 . KTM factory racing boss Kurt