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August 7, 2005 SUPERMOTO lEi'aIiiii X Games II Supermoto MY OWN RACe 32 Eric Bostrom 4th Bostrom was In the hunt to keep the X GaIMs gold in the family before his pit stop, but after It, he was the prey rather than the hunter as fatigue set in. "The pit stop went good, but I kind of wore myself out," Bostrom said. "It was really silly, but they changed the entry into the stadium, and no one knew it, and so there were almost some really big wrecks because ewryone was dipping It [the lip of the downhilij In the beginning. That was a total lack of foresight on their [the promoten) part. It was aetually ignorant, what they did. It jeopardized the riders' safety. It was a bummer, because this morning when I was able to jump all the way into the stadium, my times were right there. In the race, we kind of had to bounce the thing, and we were losing quite a lot of time using that technique. I was pushing really hard on the road race bits before I got tired. I could see Doug [Henry) up there, and he was coming to me a little bit. Then I came imo the pits. I got back out there and was trying, but I just couldn't assert myself on the road. The dirt... I just kept getting slower. Fourth was not too bad. It sure would have been nice to be up there, but you just can't give away too much to those guys. It was good. I wish we had more form, but next time." 8 Kurt Nicoll Champion slid all the way to the bottom of the ramp, but he got up quickly, appearing to be uninjured. HIs bike wasn't. McGrath continued to make up the time he lost in his crash, gaining part of it by tripling up on the outside through the rhythm section. He passed Nicoll for sixth before they reentered the stadium on lap 16. '~fter that, I still didn't feel good," McGrath said. "My handlebar guard was hanging down, and I was trying to readjust how I ride the bike. But the track started to come to me about lap 10, and then I think my pit crew, instead of pitting me, they just let me race. I was sixth or seventh, and we were only at halfway. Overall, for me, I got stronger as the race went on. Some of the guys were getting tired." Reed was the first of the frontrunners to pit, ducking in on lap 20, the first lap of the established window for pit stops. It didn't go well for him. "I had a little bit of a mix-up in the pits," Reed said. "I came in, and the team wasn't ready. It was kind of confusing for everyone, but they took control of the situation as best as they could and got me out of there as fast as possible. When I came in, they weren't quite ready, which took me by surprise. I came in, and they were looking at me, thinking there was a problem, and I was like, 'C'mon! Get it done!'" 5th Kurt Nicoll was fifth - and flm 40-year-old. He could have been third - and fim 40-year-old - if he hadn't thrown It away early while battling with Chad Reed and Doug Henry. "I got a real good start, and I was third, behind Chad and Doug," Nicoll said. "I just made a mistake and crashed. Doug went inside Chad and pushed him a little bit wide, and I just went in there too hot into the same comer overexcited and dropped the front end. I picked it up around sixth or something like that. I rode good. 1had a really good race. I'm really happy with it. I always anticipate doing well, but It took me awhile to sort the track out, to be honest. I think It would have been difficult to podium anyway. I mean, Jeremy [McGrath) was so fast on that jump coming Into the stadium. I followed him through there, and he took like a second and a half off me in that one jump. There's nothing you can do if a guy's going to do it like that. As I went Into the fim comer side by side with Chad Reed, I thought, ~ well, that guy gets paid $3 million to do this shit.' He's a fantastic rider. But I had a lot of fun, and I think I did well." 11 Chris Fillmore 7th The Troy Lee Designs Honda-backed Fillmore has been one of the fastest men on the AHA Supermoto circuit of late, but crashes have kept him from running at the front on a consistent basis. At the <40-1ap X GaIMs Supermoto, Fillmore was as consistent as he has been all year. "I didn't feel comfortable in the beginning," Fillmore said. "They changed a few things in the dirt, and I knew It was a long race. I just buckled down and tried to keep it consistent. I stalled it once, and a few people got by. The pit stop was a little bit on the slow side. The nut wouldn't come off [the axle). It was just like seized on there. I stalled it, but I stayed up, and that was the best thing that could have happened to me. I knew I was just going to conserve myself and not push like I have in other races. I was going slow enough to where I knew I wasn't going to go down. It was a good day. I'm happy." 73 Steve Drew 8th While there may have been some confusion among his team as to where he aetually finished, Two Brothers Racing's Drew was clearly as tough as he has ever been all race long. After pitting, Drew believed that he was running second or third, and he rode hard to maintain that position. In the end, however, the lap charts from the transponders showed him eighth. "I don't know," Drew said. "They came and showed me a lap chart. It was just weird. We're so new to pit stops, and that kind changes everything up. I know that Henry was in front of me when I came out of the pits, so I knew I was behind him, but nobody else passed me. But they say I got eighth. It's a new thing to us all. I felt really strong. I had a little mishap with Bostrom where we connected off the big jump, and I kind of tensed up out there. It was maybe the fifth lap in. I was right on him, and he came up short, and when he came up short, his wheel came into mine while I was trying to go to the outside of him. We clipped, and it threw me off sideways. I had my side plate passing me. After that it was a little scary because that's a bad spot to go down, and I kind of tensed up and got a little arm pump there. After the pit stop. I was able to shake it out." 199 Travis Pastrana 12th Travis Pastrana had a heck of weekend at the X Games, adding to his gold medal collection in the Freestyle Motocross final the night before the Supermoto, but a medal in the Supermoto Itself just wasn't to be. Pastrana ran as high as second in the middle of the race after staying out until lap 28 before pitting, and he appeared to have an outside shot at a medal as the race wore into the late laps, but brake problems ruined his run. "We didn't have high expectations coming imo this," Pastrana said. "At one point, I think we were in second. I pitted late, and I was right behind Doug [Henry) when he came out of the pits, so I was like, 'Sweet, we're in there.' We were like eighth, and then the brakes overf1eated. We were pretty close. I could see the front, and with fove laps to go the brakes went out. A lot of the guys were a lot faster at the beginning, but toward the end, I was making a lot time up. But when the brakes went out, we lost seven spots. I came In to check and see if there was a quick fill, and they said, 'No, keep going. You've only got four laps to go.' We lost a lot of spots. The difference between seventh and 12th is huge, but either way it's off the pace. This wasn't exaaIy the priority, but I want to thank ewryone at Cernic's. They really put a lot of time into everything. No excuses. I had the best equipmem out there. I had two days of testing, and then I got a concussion the next day. I was hoping the muscle memory would take OYer." 22 AUGUST 17, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS