Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

with more work to the bike." Currie appeared to be one of if not the fastest rider on the track in the later stages of the race, nearly catchinS Thiebault for second place. Currie ran out of time, coming home two-tenths of a second back in third. "we had a little trouble out there, but it was a good race, said local California kid Currie. "l made a mistake, and PinE was able to get around, and it took some time to catch back up. When I 8ot back to him. we had a close race there. The track is pretty tight, and it's hard to pass out there, I had to make a pretty agSressive move on him in the pavement section to get bX lt was a good race. We iust need to keep moving up the ladder and be sit- ting on the top of the box soon." After gettin8 held up in lapped traffic, Pingree came home fourth, nearly six sec- onds behind Currie. Bagnis rounded out the top five, with Casey €oming home sixth, Calvin Andlovec, on a Yamaha, mul- tiple-time off-road champion Steve Hatch, on a filY, and road racer Jeremy To/e, on a Honda, had a war for the sev- enth spot. Andlovec came out on top after Toye crashed out of the spot on the second-to-last lap. Hatch came home eiShth in his first-ever Supermoto race, with Matt Abboft in ninth on a Kawasaki, and Toye rounding out the top 10. SUP€RMOTO UNLIMIT€D Uke Ande6on in the Supermoto Lites class, KTM rider Ben Carlson had an eary time of the Unlimited class to take the openinS- round win. Husqvama's Gary Trachy came home nearly 20 seconds behind Carlson, with Carlson's young teammare John Lewis rounding out the podium iust over one sec- ond back of Tracty. Baffeleuf qualified his Husky on pole for the Unlimited race, followed by defendinS series champion Dymond and Carlson. Dymond and Baffeleuf got the jump on the field into turn one, followed by Carlson, Trachy, Lewis and the rest of the fleld. Baffeleuf and Dymond got too Sood of a start. though, and both were shown the meatball flag for ,umpinS the start; after a stop-and-go penalty, they re- entered the track in third and founh, respectively. This put Carlson in the lead, with Trachy second. Baffeleuf made quick work of Trachy on the second lap, while Dymond fol- lowed suit. Lap four claimed both Dymond and Baffeleuf, however. First Baffeleuf's bike began smokiog and leak- ing oil, dropping him out of the event. "l have a problem with the bike, and I was taken out of the race," said Baffeleuf. "lt was bad, but we are good on the big bike, and it is a long series. We will be back strong." Dymond then fell in the dirt section on the same lap and was unable to 8et his All Access KTM restarted. "l made a mistake and fell ovec and it wouldn't resart," said Dymond, who was visibly disappointed after scoring no points in the opening round, "l kicked the thing oYer for three laps and it iust wouldn't restart," This left Trachy and Lewis nearly a full straightaway behind Carlson at only the halfway point ofthe race. Carlson continued to pull away from the field, taking the opening-round win by 19.7 seconds. "lt was a good race, but I hate to win that way," said Carlson. "l'm a racer wery bit as much as the next guy, and lt sucks to win like that. Micky and Baffeleuf were both riding really well, and I would haw liked to have raced them for the win. You know. it was not as good as I would have liked t to have been. lgot offthe line third, but I felt fast. I felt like I could run with those guys and potentially b€at them. lt's a struS- gle out there. I don't know what happened to them. They were either iumpingthe line or breaking or stalling or somerhing. I iust kept my bike on two wheels and kept it consistent and ended upwinningthe race." Trachy was happy with a smart ride to finish second. "lt was good," he said. "l tried to play it smart and just stay up and not stall the bike and not fall, not have any problems. I just road smooth and sman and finished where I did. Lewis and I were sort of bat- tling the whole time and trying to stay where we were at, so it wasn't like I was iust riding out there. lt was iust sort of carnage out there.-. people fallinS, people stalling. lwas,ust tryinS to not fall - iust ride smart, finish it out." It was the former dirt-track Horizon Award winner Lewis' first podium of his young career in his first race for the facto- ry KTI''I team. "lt was pretty good; I got a good start, and then everybody iumped the start,'' Lewis recalled. ''Micky iumped, and I guess David did, and everyone had to run up the track to change positions. Ben, he just got agood start and didn't have allthe hassle of David and I'1icky having to do the meatball flag. l4icky crashed right in front of me and Tracy, so I was able to get by there. I was just trying to ride smart and put my KTIY on the podium. Now that I've done that, we'll shoot to keep it going for the rest of the season." DarrylAtkins, in his fi6t ride forthe fac- tory Aprilia team, held off Husaberg rider Robert Loire for fourth. Justin Ross took his KTM home sixth, with fellow KTf4 riders Bagnis, Eddie Ray and Alex McElyea follow- ing him in. Rick Pearce, on a two-stroke CR500, rounded out the top 10. Cll CauFonNlA SPErDwaY FoNTANA, CauronNlA Rrsulrsr APE|I 29, 2006 (RouND I ) Con inu6d lrern poga 55 ton's Donald Whnat, in the Supermoto Unlimited class. Alex HcElyea's Red Baron team showed up at the openint round with a three-rider KTM team. JoininS McElyea, who is ridinS the Supermoto unlimited class, were two former prolessional riders from dlfferent disciplines. Otr-road champion Steve Hatch joined foamer Supercross and motoaross fa.tory rider David Pingree in the Super- moto Lites

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