Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Pacifico Husqvarna te am manager Paul Lima said that a lot of work has gone into the team's factory-backed Husqv arnas in a very short amount of time . "We just put a 660 kit in Leonardo Bagnis' bike this morning. It was shipped to us from Italy," Lima said. "We also have one for Mark Avard's bike , but w e w on't have time to put it in to day. We also have heads that are being worked on back home. The facto ry is behi nd the effort , but the w hole thing came tog ether really quickly, and w e' re struggling to do what we can. We 're really getting ready for next year." Lima's San Diego , California-based motorcycle dealership , GP Motorcycles, is one of the top five Husqvarna dealers in the United States. As w ould be evide nced by his result in t he Supermoto Unlim- and not third. "There w as confusion," Bagn is said . "T he re were two guys be twe e n me and Carlson, b ut they were la ppe r guys, and I didn't know it. I was already happy if I was goi ng to finish fifth , but this is much better fo r everybody." The aftermath of N icoll's win was crystal cle ar, ho wever, as he ga ined m ajor poin ts on Kunzel in th e 5upermoto U nlimited standings. Both he and D ym on d are no w just 10 points adrift of Kunzel , w ho w o und up 14 th . Kunze l has 104 to the join t 94 of Nicoll and Dymond . eN SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY SOUTH B OSTO N , V IRGINI A R ESULTS: OCTOBER 9, 2 004 ( R O UND 5) SUPERM OTO (24 laps; 24 rid ers): I. Doug Henry (Hon); 2. Mark Burkhart (Y am); 3. Jeff Ward (Hon); 4. Kurt Nicoll (KTM); S. Benny Carlso n (KTM); 6. Steve Drew (H on); 7. Jurgen Kunzel (KTM) ; 8. David Baffeleuf (KT M); 9. Chris Fillmore (Hon); 10. Josh Chisum (Hon); I I. Leo nardo Bagnis (Hus); 12. Brandon Currie (Hon) ; 13. Jeff Wood (Hon ); 14. Jason Baldwin (Hon ); 15. Matt Burt on (Y ; 16. am) 748 Do n Howard 24th Supermoto Wh ile last place usua lly isn't muc h to write home about, Howard 's finish was significant as it marked the first AMA Supermoto start fo r one of the tru e pioneers in the rebirth of the sport here in America . "T here were probably about five of us who started doing this back in about '95 or '96 ," the 40-yearold How ard o f Fresno, California, said. "We just started do ing it as a fun sport, but we knew t hat it would take off." The Team HPH Moto spo rts Ho ndabacked Howard said t hat although he finishe d last, he still had a good race. " My bike was working great, and the track was just killer. We were having a good time , bu t we were ru nning t he motor a litt le hot , and I t hink I might have killed th e mo to r a little bit. " 43 Micky Dymond 5th Unlimited ' ~fter last week, I rea llywa nted to come here and have a good race, but w he n I rode th is mo rning it was apparent that my shou lder was going to give me a lot of trouble today, and it did ," a dejected Dymond said. "I watched all kinds of diff rent gifts be handed e to me, and I was not able to capitalize on them. I just hung in there, and I finished. Igo t fifth when I shou ld have gotten second. Th is is one of the mo re disappointing finishes in my whole life . Th is one hurts a lot, but I hope I'll be back to myself next week. It was hard er to ride than I thought it was going to be ." 505 Cole Walsdorf 9th Unlimited The 16-year-old Wisconsin ride r enjoyed his best finish of the year in t he Supe nmoto Unlimited Final aboa rd his C rank Wor ks KTM, fending o ffJoker Machine/QTM KTM rid er Justin Ross for ninth. "It was pretty good, long, tiring and the dirt got rea lly ro ugh, but it was fun," Walsdorf said. "I didn't get past some of the lapped riders, but it was st ill a good race. I enjoyed the track. It's pretty fun. I loved the sweeper. You co uld really back it in there. It was a goo d race ." Mark Avard (Hus); 17.Greg Trachy (Han ); 18 . Nick Daniels (Yam 19. ); Matt Pursley (Yam); 20. J.R. Schnabel (Yam); 21. William Baker (Hon); 22. Tim Bernisde rfer (Ha n); 23. Gary Trachy (Hon); 24. Don Howard (Hon). Time: 2 1 min., 24.2 10 sec. Ma rgin of victory: 2.2 14 sec. SUPERMO TO U N LIM ITED (24 laps; 22 r iders): I. Kurt Nicoll (KTM); 2. Benny Carlso n (KTM); 3. Leo nardo Bagnis (Hus): 4. Cassidy Anderson (KTM); S. Micky Dymond (KTM); 6. David Baffeleuf (KTM); 7. Mark Avard (Hus); 8. Graham Cheney (Hbg); 9. Co le Walsdorf (KTM); 10. Justin Ro ss (KTM); I I. Rick Pearce (Ha n); 12. Curt Jones (KTM); 13. Joe l Tarquin (KTM); 14. Jurge n Kunze l (KTM); IS. Jason Palmer (KTM); 16. Jason Baldwin (KTM); 17. Steven Ayler (KTM); 18. Darryl Atkins (KTM); 19. Benlam!n Walters (KTM); 20. John Briand (Hbg): 21. Mark Crozier (KTM); 22. William Baker (KTM). T ime : 21 rrun., 47.950 sec. Margin of vict ory: 8.63 1 sec. A MA SUPERMOTO CH A MPIO NSHIP SERIES P OI NT S STAND IN GS (After 5 of 7 ro un d s) : l. Jeff Ward ( 114/ 2 Wins); 2. Jurgen Kunzel (98); 3. Doug Henry (91/3 wins ); 4. Alexandre Thiebault (74); 5. Chris Fillmore (71); 6. Mark Burkhart (63); 7. Steve Drew (6 1); 8. Josh Chisum (57); 9. David Baffeleuf (55); 10. Kurt Nicoll (54); I I. Benny Carlson (52); 12. Leonardo Bagnis (42); 13. Brandon Cu rrie (36): 14. G, 'Y Tca chy (29): I S. Mike Men ger (26); 16. (TIE) Larry Pegram (2 l )1Matt Burton (21); t8 . Travis Pastrana ( 19) ; 19. Mark Willis (17); 20. (TIE) Greg Trachy (20)/ Micky Dymond (20). AMA SU PERM OT O U NLIMIT ED SERIES POI NTS STA ND· INGS (After 5 of 7 rounds): I. Jurgen Kunze l ( 1041 Wins); 2. 3 (TIE) Kurt Nico ll ( 94/ 2 w ins)/Micky Dymo nd (94) ; 4. Benny Carlson (78); 5. Cassidy Ande rson (69); 6. David Baffeleuf (66); 7. Leonardo Bagms (60); 8. Justin Ross (55); 9. Darryl Atkins (5 1); 10. Cole Walsdorf (44); 11. Monte Frank (4 1): 12. Graham Cheney (40); 13. Mark Avard (ll); 14. Paul Nafziger (32); 15. (TIE) Jason C hisum (30)/Joe l Tarquin (30); 17. Travis Marks (25); 18. Craig Maso n (24); 19. (TIE) Rick Pearce ( 16)/Steven Ayler ( 16). HON DA REO RIDERS SUPERMOTO CHALLENGE , I. Shane Narbon ne ; 2. Mike Radley; 3. Man hew Weidman; 4. Brandon Robinson; 5. Ken ny Lamberti; 6. Jesse C hapman: 7. Aust in Green land; 8. Matt hew Foster; 9. Chri stop he r Hanse n; 10 . Zack McCord ; I I. Evan Bear. UPCOMING ROUNDS: Round 6 - Del M Colifornio, er, October 17 Round 7 . L Vegos, Nevodo, os November 13 www.cycienEWs.com ited race, Leona rdo Bagnis liked his Husky's newfound ponies. "It's pretty good, pretty powerful," Bagnis said afte r pra ct ice. "I just bro ke it in in the first sess ion. and now we are trying to get it set up for the tra ck. It is getti ng better and better. The power is very close to the KTMs now, but our bike is just a little heavie r. But it is go ing to be okay." Bagnis finished third in the Unlimited Final aboard t he machine. Another rider posti ng quiet though cons istent finishes on the AMA Supermoto Championship trail is Ma tt Bu rton of Ottumwa, Iowa. "It has been pretty good," the 19-year-old Burton said. "We have made every main so far. Ifwe cou ld get some help fro m Yamaha, that would be a great help . We've gotte n some great help from Maxxis Tires th is year." Burton's tuner is his stepfather, Rick Cano de , w ho has tun ed dirt t rackers on the AMA Grand National circuit fo r such notables as Ricky Grah am , Ronnie Jones and Brett Landes . "We just want on e point, that's all," top- 10 finishing AMA Gra nd Nat ional dirt t rac ker J.R . Schnabel said befo re the sta rt of the day. '~c tu ally, I just want to get in a main event and ride 20 laps or w hatever they do . But we 're having fun. Every time I go ou t it se e ms like w e 'r e eight seconds off the pace , and by the time I am done we're on ly 2 1/2 se co nds off. We just finished our d irt tra ck season , so we haven 't had much time to practice t his. T hen w e come out here, and the se boys are dialed in and fast as hell, and w e have to try to run w ith them. It's to ugh to do ." Schnabe l t ransferred directly out of his heat and finished 20th in the Supermoto Final, earning exactly o ne point. Joker Ma chine general manager Ge off A rnold, who manages the Joker Machine team of Josh Chisum and Justin Ross, said that his company is already looking to increase its involvement in the sport in 200 5. "We didn't even know what a supermoto bike was in June , and now we'r e tied fo r sixth in t he Supermoto class and seventh in the Unlimited class," Arno ld, whose company manu factures a ho st o f trick custom V-twin aftermarket bits , said before the night's racing commenced. "I th ink we'll expand o ur partic ipation qu ite a bit. We're still waiting to see w hat rule changes there w ill be and what classes w ill be offered ." HMC KTM's Be n ny Carlson blew up his hot-rodded Unlimited motor on the last lap of th e last practice session for the class, forcing his team to hastily swap to a stock powerplant befo re the heat races. "It doesn't make me happy, but we'll get her go ing," Carlson said. As his second-place finish in t he Unlimited Final later indicated, Carlson wasn't bothered. Speaking of HMC KTM, team me mber Darryl Atkins got his day off to a good start when he bagged his first career wi n in a Supermoto Unlimited heat race, holding off Kurt Nicoll in the process. "I think that I have been riding good the last few weekends, but w e have bee n t rying to ma ke a few steps fo rward w ith the bike , but we have actually been going backwards," the 34 -year-old Ne w Zealander said. "I've been doi ng t he same thing I always do , but now my equ ipment seems up to it." Atkins knew it would be importa nt to get a good start. "If I can do it, I'll be happy," Atkins said. "Jurgen is going to be tough to beat because he is used to the high speeds, but if he gets in front o f me , I'll just do my best to sta y w ith him and try to pressure him. I fee l like I am really good in the dirt today." It didn't matter, as a flat rear tire ruined his drive in the Unlimite d Final. CY CLE NEWS • OaOBER 20, 2004 27

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