Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

In the other Supermoto action between the two Supermoto legs - all of it run under rainy conditions - HMC KTM Supermoto's David Baffeleuf, also of France, pulled clear of GP Husqvarna's new Australian teen sensation, Troy Herfoss, to win the 14-lap Supermoto Unlimited race. GP Husqvarna rider Leonardo Bagnis passed HMC KTM Supermoto's Darryl Atkins just a few laps from the end to secure a Husqvarna twothree on the podium. In the debut of the Supermoto Lite class, Graves Motorsports Mark Burkhart added icing on the cake of a fantastic AMA Supermoto debut by a factory-backed Yamaha team when he won the 14-lap class feature. H&S Distributors Honda's Scott Diedrich and Scotty's Speed Shop Honda's Matt Pursley finished second and third, respectively. ping out of contention for the podium. The race for second place intensified at about the halfway point, as Ward had followed Carlson through the carnage and past Thiebault. Carlson was now third, with Ward fourth, the two quickly reeling in the second-placed Kunze!. Van den Bosch continued to stretch his lead with five laps to go, pulling about five seconds on the three-rider battle for second. Carlson tried to tuck under Kunzel for second in turn four on lap I I, and he would ultimately make the pass. Van den Bosch took the win with 6.602 seconds in hand. "I did a good start and made a good break quickly," VDB said. "I was comfortable. I had 12 seconds during the race, but only I gave up a little because of the lapped riders. It is not easy. In the wet you can crash very easily, but I had not so much pressure." Though fans would be hard-pressed to spot them, VDB began to make small mistakes late in the race, allowing Ward to set him up for the pass that was to come. "I made a mistake choosing a rain front tire for the second race, because the track was dry," VDB said. "I made a good start, but my front tire was destroyed, and for sure Doug [Henry] was on two slicks and was riding fast and pushing. He passed me. It was on the rough side, but next time I will do the same, and that's racing. We are not playing - we are racing. I am still happy because I was competitive on a destroyed tire, and I think with a slick it was possible to win for sure. But Doug did a good race. Congratulations to him." Henry said that he struggled behind VDB mainly because the Frenchman was slowing him up as the KTM's front tire deteriorated. "He was making mistakes," Henry Briefly... Benny Carlson said that he was happy for the season to be starting at his home track (Carlson lives in nearlby West Bend and cut his 5upermoto teeth at Road America) and was looking for solid finishes. "Everybody else has been racing, so it's good to get going;' he said. ''I'm focusing only on 450 this year, so it'll be good to just focus on one bike setup each week." Carlson said that he was looking forward to the increased competition in the class. "Having the World Champion here is good because it brings more attention to the sport here," Carlson said. "I know it'll be tough, but we're going to see if we can't give 'em a run." Carlson gave a good accounting of himself in the 450 class, finishing second in race one and sixth in race two. After battling it out in the first few World Supermoto rounds of the season on Hon- das, France's Alex Thiebault said that he was happy to be back in America to rejoin his CHM Exhausts Honda team. "It's a new season, and I am very happy to be here;' Thiebault said. Thiebault will still continue to race in the 5 I World rounds, however, as he has made a new deal with the Italian Terramodena, with whom he contested 52 in 2004. "They have a new, big motor, and we are going to continue to develop the bike. The new engine is very strong. very fast, and we have made some suspension and chassis changes;' Thiebault said. "The next round should be very interesting for me, but my priority is the AMA Championship. I will miss only one round of the 5 I World Championship, but that is in my contract with Terramodena. to RACE ONE Van den Bosch beat Superpole winner Henry off the line in race one and pulled into the lead as the field steamed through turn one and headed up the hill for the first time, with Kunzel, Baffeleuf, CHM Exhaust Honda's Alex Thiebault and Troy Lee Designs Honda's Chris Fillmore slotting in behind them. Kunzel and Baffeleuf both passed Henry to run second and third, respectively, on lap two. Ward had bogged severely off the starting line and was desperately trying to make up ground from ninth place. Ward and Nicoll, former factory Kawasaki teammates about two decades ago, banged bars heavily in the right-handed turn four at the top of the uphill climb. Ward would pass Nicoll for eighth on lap two. Van den Bosch continued to control the race easily as the rain increased to a straight downpour, causing severe puddles in turn four and in the final turn before the start/finish line. Then the wet weather began to take its toll on several key players. Henry was the first to crash, losing the rear end and going down at a high rate of speed while braking into turn two on lap seven, with Baffeleuf crashing in turn four on the same lap. Henry lost 10 positions, remounting in 12th, while Baffeleuf slipped from third to seventh. Fillmore also crashed off turn four, drop- Carlson was second, followed by Kunzel, Ward and Baffeleuf, who battled his way back from his crash to pass Gary Trachy for sixth on lap 10 and also run down Thiebault, who finished sixth. Trachy would crash on the last lap and finish II th, one spot behind Henry, who actually fell a second time. The GP Husqvarna duo of Troy Herfoss and Leonardo Bagnis finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Nicoll was ninth. RACE TWO Although the rain passed through the area and the sun came out, AMA officials surveyed the track conditions and declared race two "wet," though they did elect to add the urban jump section and stretch the race length to 16 laps. VDB was first into turn one again when the green light nashed and the riders cleared the grid, and he was followed by Henry, Kunzel, Thiebault and Ward, the AMA Champ again suffering from a stumble off the line. Ward quickly disposed of Thiebault in the left-hander before the urban kicker that led to the big urban jump, slotting in behind Kunzel, and the race was on. The four riders sliced and diced their way around the track, with Ward trying and failing on several attempts to pass Kunzel for third over the urlban jump. said. "He missed quite a few turns, but I was just too far back, so I wanted to get up there because I knew he was going to... Well, I didn't know, but I was hoping he would make more because of that tire. He opened up a hole, and I was right there to get him. It made for an exciting race, and that's what we need right now in this sport." Thiebault came home fifth, ahead of Carlson and Fillmore. Baffeleuf, Team Anderson KTM's Cassidy Anderson and Trachy rounded out the top 10. SUPERMOTO UNLIMITED After winning the 14-lap Supermoto Unlimited Final, HMC KTM Supermoto's David Baffeleuf predicted that he will have an easy time of winning the Supermoto Unlimited Championship, and it would be hard to prove the 35-year-old Frenchman wrong. Baffeleuf was in control from the start of the race, and he easily pulled clear of GP Husqvarna's Troy Herfoss, the Australian teen making his AMA Supermoto debut. Baffeleuf stretched his lead at every turn early and then appeared to cruise, winning the race with nearly 10 seconds in hand. "I am very happy about the win of the Unlimited," Baffeleuf, who spoke through a translator, said. "The competition is not as high as in the 450. I think that I will win Courted by a few teams in the off-season, such as KTM and GP Husqvarna, Mark Burkhart landed his dream deal, a ride on the new Graves Mororsports Yamaha team for 2005. Sixth in the AMA 5upermoto Championship last year, the Ohioan is now teamed with Doug Henry, but his sole responsibility will be to win the new 5upermoto Lite Championship for the 250cc four-strokes. "I was really hoping I could get with Yamaha;' Burkhart said. "It didn't look like I was going to, so I actually started putting something together with KTM, and the same day I started to do that, I got the phone call. This is definitely a lot better than anything that was going to be offered to me. Hopefully we can win this championship - and we should be able to - and then move back to the 450 class next year." There was no crying in the GP Husqvarna pits over Burkhart's decision, as the team has landed heretofore unheralded IB-yearold Australian Troy Herfoss to ride in both the 4SOcc and Unlimited classes alongside returning team rider Leonardo Bagnis. "When the day is over, you're going to know who this kid is;' GP team owner Paul Uma said. Herfoss said that he was excited to be racing in America with GP. "I was really lucky to get the ride;' Herfoss said. "When Chris Fillmore and Micky Dymond came over to Australia, I did really well, and Nigel Pitts, who worked with this team last year, put in a good word for me. One thing led to another, and here I am." True to Uma's word, Herfoss made two immediate impacts in his Continued on poge 36 CYCLE NEWS. JUNE 15,2005 35

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