Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Supermoto Champion ship Doug Henry co m e to Vegas w ith a shot at the tit le, but hi s fifth -p lace fini sh wa sn't enough to thwart Jeff Ward. Ward off in tum one. Baffe le uf slotted into third place, ahead of Henry - who came fro m row two - N icoll and Team Metzger Action Sports' Metzger. Kunzel and Ward immediately set a torrid pace, running in the one-minute, 29-second range to drop Baffeleuf by the time the race was four laps old . Another five laps and Baffeleuf would find himself working to stay ahead of Henry and N icoll, the trio some 5.9 second behind the frontrunners. In the meantime, Seel was invo lved in a great battle with Fillmore and Metzger, and the World Champion was able to get past the "Godfather of Freestyle" with a hardbraking move into tum one. He would also 18 NOVEMBER get past Fillmore to land the sixth spot for the duration. ''I'm happy, but I missed my start, and I started in a very bad position, 10th or I I th," Seel said. "It was very difficult to pass, and I came in sixth position. I missed [winn ing] Superpole, and so Idid not get on the first line for the final. To make the podium today, it was necessary to be on the first line. So, I guess I am not so happy with my result. I had battles with Metzger, Fillmore and [Alexandre] Th iebault. I passed these guys, but I lost a lot of time to the drivers in the front. It's not easy to make the gap to the other riders, and so with rIVe laps to go I was in sixth position. I was coming to Nicoll and Henry, but it was too far to finish fifth." Henry also appeared to be out of touch as he struggled to ma intain his pace ahead of Nicoll, the two losing ground to Baffe le uf as the race wore on . "It was just a lot of things : ' Henry said . "It was a long layoff between the last race and this one, and I just didn 't have the best of weeks, you know? I just never seemed to get going out there. I made some mistakes early on , and I just never could seem to recover fro m them. This was a really slippery track, and I had a little bit of sore knee, and I was babying it. I was riding too careful out there, and if you ride too careful - a couple tenths a lap - you're done. I'm just really disappointed. Th is is the worst Supermoto that I have ever had , and I'm just going to try and put it behind me. But I want to come back and do this again for sure." On lap 16, He nry spun up in the dirt and allowed Nicoll by fo r the fourth spot. Nicoll later said that he was disappointed that he d idn't get on the podium because he felt that he rode a good race. "To be honest, I expected that Baffe leuf would probably tire a little bit like he always does, and I wanted to be on Baffeleuf when that happened because I was right on Doug [Henry]:' Nicoll said . " But then Do ug kept making m istakes, sliding out, and he couldn't pass Baffeleuf, and I couldn't pass Do ug. Finally, I got past Doug with three laps to go , and I caught up to Baffeleuf, but it was too late to do anyth ing. But I felt really good, really free. " At the same time, the battle for the lead intensified, and it finally came to a head on lap 17. Until that time, whenever the pair would come out of the d irt section, Ward would be on Kunzel's rear wheel. But on lap I7, Kunzel would get a better drive down 24, 2004 • CYCLE N EWS MY OWN RACE 1 Ben Bostrom Supermoto 13th After electrifying the sport with hismagical performance at both the 2003 Red BullSupermoto AGo-Go and the 2004 X Garnes. American Honda's Bostromwas looking for another magical finish to maybe raise his stock a littlewhile he was hunting for a ride for 2005. Itdidn't happen. Instead. Bostromstruggled to corne to terms with the track, missing out on Superpole and then languishing near the backof the field for most of the Supermoto final. "Not such a good tradkthIS year: ' Bostromsaid. "Where there was probably a reallyneat layoutfor the COUf>e. the asphalt was really bad, and it was one line. Everybody was just poIe-puttingaround the inside.which probably made it a tough show for Tv. I rode reallyhard. but I just couldn't go anywhere. Everyoneelse was ridingreally well. and with there beingjustone line around the track. we just kind of got stuck in the back for a while. Idon't know that Iwas kniflll&through them . They were justgettingtired, and we were passingthem. Ireallywasn't much bener than they were. Thefrustration reallyset in. Whenyou can't ride the race the way you want to. you start tearingyour hair out. But I'mgladI rode . I'll be back." 86 Gerald Delepine Unlimited 5th Delepine, who rode only Unlimitedwhile his factory Husqvama teammate, Eddy 5eeI, focused only on the Supennoto class. gave a good accounting of himselfin the Unlimited Final. "I started eighth, and it was good. and I reached fifth position,but I made an error and was seventh again," Delepine said. "Imade my rhythm back, and I made it back to fifth." Delepine's pass on Micky Dymond for the fifth spot came at the exact same spot that Jeff Ward had passed Jurgen Kunzel in the 5upermoto final, the difference beingthat Delepine and Dymond banged bars hard. "It was very difficult to pass: ' Delepine said. "Isaw Ward and Kunzel in 450, and Idid the same thing." Delpinesaid that he mightalso be seeing more action stateside in 2005. "I likecoming to America. and it is possible that I will return for more racing." 767 Frederic Fiorentino Unlimited 6th The recent winner of the prestigious Menet Superbiker event in his native Belgium, Fiorentino was another World Supermoto contender on leave from Europe to race in Las Vegas, and he, too , adapted quickly to the tight.technicalBallyis track, passing hisway from eighth to sixth in the Unlimesterday in practice. Ifell dunog practice and hit my back, and I had a lot of pain in my ited Final. "Y ribs. so Iwas not confident: ' Fiorentino said. "But today, Ichanged the settingsof my bike and finished fifth in my qualifying race. Iwas a bit nervous in the final , because after two false starts... so I just concentrated, and carne frorn eighth to finish fifth or sixth - Idon't know. Butthiswas my first time in the States, and Iwould liketo thank the people who welcomed me: Craig Mason of Fast 50s. Dunlop with Brae Glover, and MikeMetzger.Without them . Icould not be here. After I won the race in Hettet, Mike askedme to come here." 43 Micky Dymond Unlimited 7th 'Trn glad that I rode, but I'm hurting pretty good. and Iam sony that there was a bigcrash and other people got hurt too: ' Dymond said after landing seventh in Unlimited. "Igot collected from behind. and the kid that hit me. CassidyAnderson. must have gonen on the brakes too hard on some of the dirty asphalt and lost the front end. and that was it. His body went rightunderneath , . me, and I know that he was hurt pretty badly and I hope that he isokay. Anyway Icleared a few of the obstacles, likesome tires and some of the plates on the ground. but the hay bale I hit wasn't so kind. On the restart, Iwas fifth. behind Baffeleuf. and Iwas surprised that Iwas able to stay with him for a while. But then Igot worse each lap instead of better. Igot to where Icouldn't get up off the seat much anymore. Benny [Carlson} and De/epine were hammering on me, and Iwas slowing their pace up pretty good. Idid the best Icould, and Iguess that we finished second in the points, which is good, but it could have been bener. Italso could have been a lot worse." the back straightaway and ga p Ward by five le ngths, hold ing the advantage all the way back to the entrance of the d irt secti on . Ward cut the fastest lap of the race, a I:27 .584, on lap 16, and on lap 17 he used a block-pass to beat Kunze l over the over/under tabletop jump and take over the lead . The crowd, estimated at between 5000 and 7000, roared its approval. Ward said that he made his decision to go for the move one lap before executing it. "I actually tried that move early in the race: ' Ward said. "Kunzel went to the outside a couple times, and I went to the inside , and then he saw that I could stuff him, so he started going inside. I was always using the outside in tha t berm before the tunnel because it gave me a lot of straight-line speed going in there, and I could roll that next comer. I checked it out, and I said, 40th Anniversary 'Okay, I've got to do it.' I came around, and I got in there straig ht w hile he was st ill tuming. I know that he cou ld hear me, so I think he grabbed a little bit too much throttle, and I just went straight, and he slipped a litt le . If he hadn't, there wou ld have been contact, but I would have come out of it okay because I was going to be the one doing the hitting . I'm glad it did n't happen like that." Kunzel then added to his own m isfortune by rolling off the throttle when the two men passed the start/finish line dUring the whiteflaglap. Kunze! thought it was the checkered flag He quickly realized his error, but by . then he had already spotted Ward several bike lengths. "My mechanic gave me two laps to go , but he kept it on the board so that I thought it was the last lap," Kunzel said . "I slowed in the off-road and then I caught Ward , and

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