Southern Nevada Supermoto Challenge/STTARS SuperlT)oto Series
(For left) Chisum put together an impressive ride. He hung
with Dymond in the early going before settling ihto third.
(Left) Chris Fillmore, aboard Ward's bike during Saturday's
team race, finished fourth in the Open Expert class after
coming back from a poor quolifying position.
BUFFALO BILL'S RESORT AND CASINO
PRIMM, NEVADA
RESULTS: APRIL 2-3, 2005
(ROUND 1 OF 11)
INT: t. Casey Currie (Kaw); 2. Kevin
Vossen (Hon); 3. Jim Jaquette (Han); 4. Roger
Hensley (Han); 5. Todd KovaJett (Yam).
NOV: I. Dave Potter (Han); 2. Matt
Beavers (Han); 3. Shane Ginter (KTM); 4. Gary
Dick (KTM); 5. Steve Shine. (Hus).
BEG: I. Ashley Edwards (Han); 2. Kevin
Aschenbach (Han); 3. Graham Gustin (KTM); 4.
Mark Matula (Hon); 5. Dustin Schaller (Han).
MASTER: I. Tony Moore (Han); 2. Shane
Ginter (KTM); 3. Julie Lane (Yam); 4. Brien
Whitlock (Han); 5. Ryan Sweeny (KTM).
SPORTSMAN: I. Vincent Guisande (Hon);
2. Bri"" Pe-ew (5uz): 4. Gar(
T",nn (Han): •.
Eric Aroe<>On (Han): 5. Mike Dav;s (Han).
QUAD EX: I. Dana Creech (Yam); 2.
Nick Granlund (NGR); 3. Jason Anderson
(Yam); 4. Garrick Lastra (Yam); 5. Auguat
Goebel (Yom).
QUAD AM: I. Wes Miller (Han); 2. Pablo
Arciniega (Yam); 3. Mike Ulrich (Yam); "'.
Robert Kramer (Yam); 5. Brandon Garcia (.).
Dymond beat Ward in their
Open Expert quolifying heot
race - though it wasn't by much.
Chisum knew that if he stayed up with his
faster counterparts - Ward and Dymond that he would be in a safe position for the
final podium spot.
"It went good; I got a really good start
for once," Chisum said. "I knew Jeff and
Micky were going to be really fast, so I
just basically tried to hang onto them and
let them take me away from everybody
else. We kind of got out in the middle of
the race, I kind of just saw no one was
behind me and just backed off and rode
my own race - survived for third."
Behind the top three, though, there
was a fierce battle going on between Gary
Trachy, Chris Fillmore, Steve Drew and
Alexander Thiebault for fourth. The four
riders spent the better half of the race
swapping plastic until finally, just past the
42
APRIL 20,2005 •
halfway mark, Fillmore moved past
Trachy and into fourth. Making it even
more impressive for Fillmore was the fact
that he had worked his way up from way
back, where he started due to having to
go to the semifinal in order to qualify for
the main. Fillmore had some bad luck in
his heat race and dropped out toward the
end, forcing him to ride the semi.
As for Dymond, who tried his best to
keep up with Ward for the first part of the
race, he ultimately lost touch of the
Honda rider. Now he knows what he
needs to do to win once the season
begins in May.
"A lot of fast guys were here," Dymond
said, "and this is a good simulation of the
asphalt sections that will be on the AMA
circuit. Today, racing with Wardy, I have a
good idea of where I have to step it up a
little bit. We rode the open bike, and we
are making some advances with it."
In the end, Dymond finished roughly 7
to 8 seconds behind Ward, and while it
may not seem like it, Dymond was quite
pleased with his performance.
"Everything was really good this weekend," Dymond said. "It would have been
nice to stay with Wardy a little bit there,
but I got a little bit of the arm pump there
and he was fast; he always is really fast.
Getting beat by Wardy is nothing to be
too bummed about."
eN
CYCLE NEWS
Briefly...
The Troy Lee Designs team was in lull force
at the event. The team used it as a warmup
for the AMA Supermoto Series opener in
May, and as part of testing, set up timing
transponders at the finish. "Yeah, I had one
on my bike so I
could see every lap,
so I could try different lines and see
what works," Jell
Ward said. "You
can't do that in the
AMA, but it's kind
of cool to be out
there and see what
works and see if it is
a better lap time."
:
Last year, Steve Drew rode a Honda
CRF4S0. This year, he switched to the all-new
Suzuki RM-Z450. According to Drew, it is still
a work in progress, as he has yet to find a
brake sponsor and is still discovering how to
make the bike work well for supermoto.
There was a lot 01 support from the motorcycle industry at this first-year event. Three
Brothers Racing had a huge contingent of
KTMs on hand, while Two Brothers was
there to support Steve Drew. Troy Lee
Designs had its rig parked in the pits, as did
the CHM Honda team, where Alexander
Thiebault was pitted. Team Husqvarna was
also present. There was also a rather
impressive vendor row, and Red Bull had a
huge presence at the event.
The entire course was quite impressive.
Many of the riders raved about it, and for
good reason. "The course was pretty cool,"
third-place Open Expert winner Josh
Chisum said. "It was different. It got blue
grooved in the back so it was pretty fun. The
more we rode it, the better it got." It took
race promoter Marche Karger over 1000
hours to design and build.
Normally, supermoto is reserved lor bikes
only. At the Stateline Supermoto Challenge,
however, it was the first time that a Quad
class was added to the schedule.
Off-road racer
Russ Pearson
turned out to
race the event. It
was his first time
to ever swing a
leg over a super-
moto bike. In the
Open Expert
final, he finished a
very respectable
10th aboard a
borrowed bike.
