Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Round 3 June IO, 2006 and fell down." he said. "l came down the hill, and it's a pretty fast section, Maybe third gear, wide-open through it. Yy rear wheel spun and it kind of flicked me back the other way. I got a real bad head- shake and went straight off the track. I was laying on the front fender for a minute and saved it. I got into the grass and there was just nowhere for me to go. I had to ride into the air ba8s. lt was ,ust a dumb mistake. lfell down and couldn't 8et my bike started until there was iust tlvo laps left, I thihk-" Henry backed off until he was clear of wild-man Burkhart, and then kicked in the afterburner to catch back up to Hiemer- On the penultimate lap Henry hurled his Yamaha at Hiemer in the torturous paved section, but Hiemer held firm. "l caught up to Hiemer and I tried to pressure him into a mistake, but he didn't seem to make any," Henry said. "He knew that I was right on him if he made a mistake, so I think he was riding cautious- ly to not make a mistake." Henry upped the pressure on the final lap, forcing his front wheel under Hiemer in the sharp left at the end of the 1000- foot straightaway, but Hiemer was havin8 none of it. Henry tried to overtake Hiemer again in their lasr run through (he dirr; again, Hiemer prevailed. "There was a little double-jump I was doing in the dirt," Henry said. "l could catch up to him, but I couldn't pass him." With all eyes straining to s€e how the race would flnish, Henry hit Hiemer in one of the last tums on the pavement and went down. Henry blamed Hiemer for braking early, an accusation Hiemer found hilarious. "l figured it would come down to the last lap unless he made a mistake," Henry said. "We were racing hard, and at the boftom of the hill he iust got on the brakes hard and I ran into the back of him. We don't do that over here in America, you know - take a guy out. lguess that's something they do over there. Maybe someday I can return the favor." Henryfelland Ward finished second, but more importantly for his championship hopes, flrst arnong the AMA series regulars. "lt was the best I've ever run here," said Ward. "l was down in the one minute, l8-second flat-lap time and I couldn't get anywhere near that all week- end. I was real happy with my effort. \ryhen I saw Mark go down I wasn't too concerned about Henr7, because I gained so many points on him in the first moto. Then Doug, trying to go for the win, went down. I was handed a gift, and more points. lthought lwas lucky last week, but this was an even luckier day." Fillmore finished third after zooming past Kunzel right before the linish line. "l kept putting in consistent laps," said Fillmore- "Toward the end of the race when they staned backing off a bit, I kept on going. With about three or four laps to go - I don't know, I couldn't read my pit siSn - I was catching lurgen. With tlvo to go I was all over him. I iust stayed behind him. Last lap, last corner, I was planninS on going to the inside and taking him on (he inside, but he rode a real conservative line on the inside. So I blasted around on the outside and made the pass." Fillmore's pass devastated Kunzel's confidence, "l finished fourth, but when you get passed in the last corner, it is really hard for a rider," the German said. "l feel real- ly bad over this, and it was my fault." Herfoss finished lifth, his race in doubt due to gearbox troubles. Nicoll was sev- enth, iust ahead of Dymond. Baffeleufand Chisum were ninth and loth, again. SUP€RMOTO LIT€S Anderson had another mistake-free day to take his third successive win of the year. "l felt good this whole week practic- ing," he said. "l felt confident and set the fastest lap in all the practice sessions and in qualifying. I had over half a second over everTbody in qualifyinS, so going into the race I was confident, I knew I was going to pull the holeshot - Pro Circuit gave me an unbelievable motor. I told myself that after I get the start to ride a conservalive, smart race, and not do anything stupid." Thiebault looked to be the man most likely to end Anderson's perfect run over the Supermoto Lites class, but it was a long shot bet at best. Thiebault trailed Anderson by anywhere from a half second to one second over the flrst half of the race. From there Thiebault could do noth- ing to prevent Anderson from opening the lead out to wvo-and-a-half seconds. "ln the beginning ltried to take the same rhythm and relax my mind and my riding," said the Frenchman. "We are rid- ing fast, and in the middle of the race I try to push a little bit more to catch Cassidy. But I make some mistake. I lost the front wheel of my bike four times, so I was not very confident, l'm happy because last weekend I wzrs too far behind and I was not confident. I made so many mistakes- Now I am on the same lap time as Cassidy so I iust improved a little bit on my results, my bike, and me. Hopefully will have a victory soon." The bare-knuckle light of the race was over third place. Leonardo BaSnis took over third at the start, but let Anderson and Thiebault sprint away at the rate of one second a lap. Yamaha's Brandon Currie was frantic to over take Bagnis and catch rhe leaders. Currie put his plan into action on lap six with a pass at the end of the straightaway- "l 8ot a bad stan and lwas riding a lit- tle tight at llrst," said Currie. "lt took me a little bit to get going. I caught back up with Bagnis. lt's a hard track to pass on. I figured out where lwas going to pass him. and I had the pass on him, but in the next corner he hit me on the inside and we both went off the track.'' AMA Supermoto Championshlp As Bagnis and Currie rode across the grass, Casey Yarrow moved up to third. Yarrow was almost l0seconds behind Thiebault, bur had nothinS on BaSnis. Currie, however, was nearly three sec- onds behind Bagnis. Bagnis passed Yarrow in the dirt on lap l0 with Currie on the tail of both riders. Currie tried to parss Yarrow in the dirt with less than four laps to go, but didn't succeed. Currie's next attack came right where he passed Bagnis earlier in the race, and was successful with the pass aod staying on the track thereafter. Currie now set off on BaSnis, now two seconds up the road with two laps to go. Currie's task looked impossible, but by the time the pair entered the dirt for the final time Currie had cut the gap from two seconds to two bikelengths. A backmarker in the dirt caused both Bagnis and Currie to jump to an inside line and almost collide. The two scurried out of the din and down the last shon section of pavement. At the slow right-hand cor- ner that transitions the riders to the 80- kart orral, Currie tried to force his front wheel inside Bagnis. Currie didn't give up on the pass aftempt until he hit the ground for the second and last time. "l had awheelon him again, but I pushed wide and my bike came out from under me," said Currie. "l pushed ny way through and had a wheel, but he didn't want to sbw down for the comer. He ran it in deep on me and pushed my bike out from underme. I ended up getting fourth. lt's not the best, but we are going to cortinue to keep work- ing. Hopefully. we'll get a good setup and 8et out and win the next race-" sUP€RMOTO UNLIMIT€D "Last week stunk,'' said championship leader Carlson about his double shunt at Road America the week before, "You know after throwing it away, it put more pressure on me coming into this race." The extm pressure was well hidden as Carlson made a great start from the inside of the front row. Carlson's lead was 1.2 seconds by the end of the first lap, an amount more than what the leaders had on the flrst lap of the other three races combined. By midrace Carlson's lead was 3.5 seconds and he had the luxury to cruise untilthe end, "lt's all about who gets the start and who gets in their own rhphm," he said. "lt's tough when you have to battle with people and get by them. Once I gapped it at about three seconds, I just rode my own deal and I ended up winning it. AII in all, it was 8ood." Three different riders held second position during the race. Bagnis was the first to do so, from laps one throuSh six. Baffeleuf passed Bagnis to hold second until the final lap and Dymond got a sec- ond wind late in the race and caught Baffeleuf in the dirt section filled with lapped riders. Dymond used the traffic to his advantage to overtake Baffeleuf, Dymond. in fact, nearly caught Carlson 28 JUNE2t,zoo6 . cYcLE NEws SUFERMOTO : , , , b -\N J f:. .R ,*U \ .a I ,s I b- C{r5idy Andoruon (l !} laodr th. Liras ficld into tum one,

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