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then we crossed the finish line he kept racing. Then I tried to catch him again, and on
the last comer he made a big mistake, and if
I had been there, I could have passed him,
but the discance was too big.
"But I had a reallygood start, and on this
day my start was all-time perfect," Kunzel
added . "I was in front, and I said to myse lf,
'O kay you have good speed.' It was hard for
Warclyto try and pass me. Whoever was the
guy in the fro nt, it would be hard to pass. But
I made a small mistake, and WarcIy passed
me , and that was the race then. A small mistake, and the other guys pass you."
Ward crossed the line with Kunzel right
on his rear tire . Baffeleufwas over eight second s behind the front two.
"It is very difficult to speak English for
me," the French Baffe
leuf said, then added
with the help of a translato r, "I am very
happy to be here, and first I want to than k a
lot Mitch Hansen and HMC Racing for their
help in the championship. Iam very happy to
fin ish like this and return for the next championship. I would love to be here next year
because I am very happy about the race and
all the people who come to see the racing."
UNLIMITED
The 16-lap Unlimited race was marred by a
horrendous crash that happened after AMA
officials aborted the original start due to a
starting light malfunction. On the restart,
MotoVoy KTM's Cassidy Anderson
appeared to lose the front end, and in the
ensuing me lee, severa l top riders were collected , includ ing HMC KTM's Darryl
Anderson and Benny Carlson , All Access
KTM's Micky Dymond, and Pac ifico
Husqvarna riders Gerald Delepine and
Leonardo Bagnis. As frighte ning as the crash
looked , only Bagnis would not make the
restart, mostly due to excess bike damage .
"I was in fifth place, and Igot a reallygood
start and was a1reacly in the comer when it
felt like Igot hit by a train in the back," Bagnis
said. "That 's all I know. Then when I was
falling, somebocly ran over my legs. I was
pretty sore, and my bike was broke, so I
co uld not make the main."
Darryl Atkins said that he
test.
probably got off the ligh
"I tried to avoid him, but
then some other guys came
down behind me , and the
next thing I knew I was sliding on top of someone else's
bike , and a bunch of us were
down. Because I was sliding
on top of someone else's
bike, I didn't get a scratch on
me . I was lucky, but I think
the crash really shook everyone up. But that's the way it
goes. That's racing."
Nicoll had come from the
outside of row one to get the
holeshot on both start
attempts, but when the race
finally did get under wa y,
Kunzel came off the pole to
take the lead, fo ll wed by
o
C ham bo n and Baffeleuf.
T hen there was a threesecon d gap back to Dymond ,
Carlson and Delepine. Delepine then passed
Dymo nd, who was still hurting from the
crash, by nerfing him out of the way on lap
three in the same spot that Ward had passed
Kunze l in the earl ier Supermoto fi nal.
Carlson would eventually pass both of them
for fourth , and Dymond and Delep ine would
trade the fifth spot back and forth before
Delep ine was able to pullaway for fifth.
Kunzel appeared to have the race under
control as he ran in the I:28s, w ith Nicoll
matching his pace , but then on lap nine,
Kunzel suddenly slowed in the back section ,
ruming his head arou nd to look down at his
rear tire , wh ich let go. Nicoll was able to
pass him eas ily two turns before the front
straightaway and pull d ear. Kunzel tried to
stay out on the trac k, but he lost positions
quickly With the championship out the win.
do w, the German pulled in a couple of laps
later.
" Bad, bad , bad ," Kunzel said of his
Unlimited-final nightmare. "I don't know
why this happened. I have really good starts
today in both my races and really good
speed. Then in the Unlimited, with the flat
tire, well, in that one situation you could see
my whole entire season this year. I have had
no luck this year, and I just ho pe that I can
put it all behind me and move on to next
year w ith better results."
Nicoll said that there was no warning
before Kunze!'s dem ise.
"jurgen's problem was instant," Nicoll
said. "O ne second he was perfect, and then
suddenly his tire went do wn. You can't ride
a Supermoto with a flat tire. It's impossible. I
co uldn't tell if it was really flat, but o n the
other hand I thought I was pushing him so
hard , and he d idn't have to beat me to win
the champ ionship. I thought maybe he was
just looking back at his tire and then was
going to let me by."
With Kunzel out, Nicoll backed off the
pace, running a string of I:29s to the finish.
Although Chambon caught Nicolloff the last
corner, he d id no t try and make pass for the
lead. Instead , the two put on a show to the
checkered flag, Nicoll pulling a sea ted
wheelie wh ile Cham bon op ted to stand on
the seat while pulling a w hee lie across the
finish line.
"I knew that jurgen had to finish fourth
with the dou ble points system, and I d idn't
know if he would be able to ride with the
puncture ,' Nicoll said. "I knew that Boris
d idn't coun t and that Baffeleuf was close. But
when I came around with 2 Ifl laps to gO,1
went by the Red Bull hospitality and my
,
brother and two of my friends were hanging
over the fence, nearly in the line, and they
were waving like hell. That's when I knew I
was going to be champion."
Chambon said that he was pleased to finish second when all was said and done .
"It was very good , but I was very t ired,"
Chambon said. "I gave my all in the 4S0 final ,
and went from 23 to eight. Igave my best in
Unlimited, but jurgen and Kurt were a little
bit faster than me . I tried to stay w ith them,
but I made a big mistake on the tabletop, and
I was very close to a crash . After I saw the
flat tire of jurgen , I pushed again to get back
close to Kurt. It was okay beca use fo r me
this is so different than Euro pe. I hope to
come back next year with more preparation, because I love the U.S., and I love the
life in the U.S. I hope to come here soon ."
Baffeleuf came next, followed by Carlson
and Delepine . Next came Fast SOS KTM's
Frederic Fiorentino, who passed Dymond
late in the race for sixth place. Dymond was
sevent h, followed by Paofko Husqvarna's
Mark Avard, Atkins and Fast SOS KTM's
CN
Calvin Andlovec.
BAll 's lAs VEGAS Hom & CASINo
y
lAs V EGAS, NEVADA
R£suus: NOVlMBUl 13, 2004 (ROUND 7)
SUPERHOTO (18 laps ; 24 riden); I. jell w.--d (Hon ); 2.
Ju'gen Kuuel (KTM); 3. 0