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/128347
Henry (19) grabbed the holeshot at the start of the race and never looked back . Jurgen Kunze (52) passed Ward (3X) to take over second on the opening lap. Kunzel would not hold the position for long . rider field into t urn one, with Kunze l edg ing past Ward for seco nd place wh ile Baffeleuf came off row two and slotted into fourth, ahead of Nico ll and fellow second-row starters Drew and Thiebault. American Suzuki/Cem ic's Racing's Travis Pastrana came from row three to run eighth but then crashed out of contention in the off-road section, ultimately finishing 20th. Kunzelimmediately tried to put pressure on Henry, but his race came to a grinding halt little more than one lap into the race , when he low-sided in tum one at the end of the long, high-speed front stra ightaway. Kunzel was not hurt in the grinder of a crash, and he remo unted in last place. "The problem is that they cleaned the track before we started the 450 race, but they brought more sand on the track, and I do n't know why," Kunzel said. "It was real- Iy slippery then. Kurt said the same, and he was not far from a crash either. I don't know w hy I have no luck this year in the 450. I rode normally into the comer. My speed was the same and my brakingthe same , but with the sand I could make noth ing," Kunzel would pass his way up to 14th place before stallingagain on lap nine , having to start the whole process over again. Coming from dead last again, he passed his way to 12th before the race was complete . "The engine stopped, and I don't know why," Kunzel said. "I passed the guys, and then the engine stopped," Up front, Henry and Ward were able to pull about a two-seco nd gap over the great Baffeleuf/N icoli battle for third . Nicoll stalked the Frenchman, and he nearly made a pass on lap I I when Baffeleuf got out of shape in the off-road sect ion. Nicoll finally cut underneath Baffeleuf in tum 12 to take third. He quicklypulled away to secure the position, but by then he was over 12 seconds behind Henry and Ward. "Today was my best with the 450 for sure," Nicoll said. "Right from the start, Ifelt good on the 450 - maybe to the detriment of the big bike. I was really happy with the way the 450 went. This is my first podium of the year in 450, and Iam really happy with that. www.cyclenews.com "I tho ught we could run with Ward and Hen ry, but I messed the start up a little bit," Nicoll continued . "By the time I got aro und David, those guys were gone . I got stuck behind David for a lot of laps, and I kind of knew that he would make a mistake, but it took a lot longe r than I expected. I was getting kind of desperate through the dirt sec tion. I thought that in the last two laps I was going to have to hit him. Luckily he made a , mistake before that ." Hen ry built a slight gap on Ward by the halfway point, but a mistake by He nry late in the race allowed Ward to cut that gap from two seconds to two bikelengths with just four laps remaining. It was as close as he got to the winne r. "I stayed with him for five or six laps, but then I don't know if I made a couple mistakes or he just had a couple good laps," Ward said. "He got ahead of me, but the n he almost we nt down . In the dirt sweeper, he went sideways and hit a hay bale , and he nearly went off the track. That's how I caught back up to him. He didn't lose a lot of time.' Ward's second-place finish, combined with another Kunzel disaster; leaves the 43year-old former AMA MX and Supercross Champion with a commanding points lead head ing into the fi nal rou nd in Las Vegas. "I'm beat , man," Ward said. "I'm sore. Doug rode a good race . I just couldn't be as aggressive in the dirt as Iwanted to be . I was lucky that the track was all left-hand turns instead of right-hand turns. I was surprised that I was able to hang with Doug. He did make a few mistakes, and if I had been close enough, I wo uld have capitalized on them . I was pretty excited that I was able to keep the pace. Now a top five in Vegas means the championship." Behind the front three, Baffele uf led a string of riders w ith fairly large gaps between them and finished fourth , ahead of Carlson and Team Metzger Action Sports ' Mike Metzger. Team Ultimate Edge Raci ng Yamaha's Mark Burkhart came out ahead of a three-rider batt le that raged for the sev- CYCLE NE WS • OaOBER 27, 2004 23