Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

'^Iller iilororiporrE Po Tooels, UT OFF.ROAD Round 4 tun.c 17,2006 AMA SupcPmoto Championship couple of good moves on one lap and got by both Chris (Fillmore) and Kurt Nicoll, in the din. I jump-passed Chris in the step-ups in the dirt before we come across the finish." Only at the very end did Fillmore put time on Nicoll. "l stayed in there for about half the race in third and then Burkhaft put the pass on me and I tire to stay with him and we were iust pretty quick in the dift," Fillmore said. "l knew my stronS points would be the pavement and I iust pushed on pavement and tried to ride conserva- tive in the dirt. and rt ended up working out for me. I knew Kurt Nicoll was behind me, but I wasn't really too worried about that." "lt's not bad," Nicoll said. "l like finishing founh and fifth when l'm riding at sixth and seventh pace and it falls in my lap." Kunzel was sixth, 15 sec- onds back, with three seconds on GP Husqva.na's Troy Herfoss. Herfoss was riding hurt after a heavy crash in prac- tice Friday. 5UP€RMOTO LIT€s There was a red flag on the second lap of the Hot Wheels Supermoto Lites race, but it waso't going to slow down race leader Cassidy Anderson. Anderson qualified 1.8 seconds faster than Brandon Currie and had the most consistent fast laps, He'd carry the speed into the race. On the restart Anderson was again away and flying, no one close to belIlg able to match his pace. Anderson quickly drew away and went on to win by 3.l4lseconds, "The fans. man," he said from the podium. "l'm almost embarrassed about it. I see you guys cheering me on every lap. I couldn't do it without you guys.'' He continued. "l felt Eood allweekend. I put in two seconds a lap faster in qudiry- in8 than the second-place position, so I had more confldence than l've ever had going into the race. I wasn't really worried about it at all. I knew I just had to keep it r.rp, don't go down, don't stall it, and pull a holeshot and that's what I did." Currie ran second from the start to the finish, the Graves l'4otorsports Yamaha rider having as uneventful a race as Anderson. ''He knows how to ride here," Currie said of Provo's Anderson, "He rides here a lot and rhis is my lirst time here. I just had to put together a clean stan and go for it. But we didn't have anything for him this race, but we're going to work harder these three weeks off and come to Detroit hungry for a win. "We just got to go home and work hard over this three week break. I just need to work hard and get faster. Cassidy's riding around really good - he had me beat here. We just need to 8et on top and start making some points." Pingree took second from GP Husqvarna's Alexandre Thiebault on the second lap. Thiebault would only make a few more laps before retiring. "We have changed some things before the start and the bike worked good in the beginning of the season and I don't know Mv Owru Rnce 45 gen Carlson I 8th Place "l iust got taken out by a guy in the din, the real tight right-hander-, lost the {ront end and that was about it." Carlson, the fast qualifier said, of the first-lap incident. "l tried makinS my way up, lwas about ninth, should have got top five, but had a flat tire." That dropped him out when he was running I lth on the sixth lap. 54 Darryl Atkins Aprilia Pacifico Racing's Darryl Atkins had rhe Aprilia RXr'550 tlvin in ninlh on lhe Iifth lap when a flat tire pu! him out. "l struggled all day long, jusr tr/ing to push it and I tot a little messed up on the lirst lap and iust struggling," he said. I never went down, I got messed up in the first cor.rple of laps. We've been hav- int problems with the bike all day- lt j'Jst DNF wash't running right. lgot killed on the start and then I 8ot a flat tire when I started to t.y to Bet back into h." 8 Kurt Nicoll 4th/Sth PIace Team Red Bull KTM HMC'S Krrrt Nicoll raced tearnmate.lur- gen Kunzel in both races, betint him both ti.nes, ln the first moto he gated well, then t ed to go around the outside in tum ofle and 8ot hit, coming out seventh, Then Travis hs- trana crashed pretty much straight away, so he was sixth. When Ward cresh€d the socond time, he was up to sixth and chasint KlJnzel. "lttook me the whole raae to passJurgen," Ni.oll said. 'lurgen was a little bit quicker than rne on the pavement, I was quite a lot quicker than him in the dirt. I iust couldn't quite llnd a way through to that last lap." Acualt it was the next to the last lap that Nicoll made the pass, uncon- cerned about denying the defending champion points. "l can't help myself," he said. "The fact is that l'm ahead ofhim in the points." ln the second race Nicoll aSain beat Kunzel. but that wasn't his aim. lnstead he was looking to Chris Fillmore, iust ahead, and not EivinS an inch. "l couldn't Iind a way past Chris Fillmore, that's it. Follo'r/ed him the whole damn race," Nicoll said. And then l'4ark Burkhan made the jump {rom fifth to third on the sixth lap, passing both Nicoll and Fillmore. Nicoll said ir was because he was too slow in the dirt behind Fillmore. lt's kind ofannoying because I definitely had the speed today for lhird place." I7 Leonardo Bapnis DNF BP Racing's Leonard BaSnis (KTl"l) was knocked out ofa top-live finish on the eidth l+. "we have an electrical problem," he said. Don't know exaatt what it is. As soon as I 8o slow in the dirt srage it completely shut out, and I can't keep going like that." 199 Travis Pastrana Crowd favori{e 'Iiavis ftLstrana used the Miller round, and like- ly others, to prepare for the ESPN X-Garnes in early AuSust. At the end o, a frustrating day, he reaiired there was much work ahead. The multitalented freestyler/ralry driver/motocrosser crashed almost immediately in the llrst race and finished the fint I+ in l8th. "l rnade it a corner {ur- ther than I did in practice," he said. "l want to run ocactty like I see the guys in lront of me doing, For some rcason I'm not 8th/8th Place ldellnitely need to go out and hit a couple more ofthese," skilled enough on the p:wement to run that pace." Th€ setback was motivational. Onc€ he got toint he quickly sliced throuth the lleld, taking positions at every turn and moving from I lth to eithth, his llnishinS positron, on the ninth of l0 laps, "The whole moto was charg- ing back. Got back pretty clo6e to where I had started." But he also develop€d a noticeable misfire late in the ra.e. which ended his drive. "We were iust overheatint a little bit,'' he said. "l was probably fortettint to shift. Usualt when l get behind and start panickiht I start holdinS her pinned in the air and trying to realy tet everlhing I can, Hopefully, that'll be sorted out for the next one." He added. "This is the best I've ever relt on a Sup€rmoto €vent. I know it's 8ot tvvo dirt se<- tions, whach is pretty much where I'm making all my time. But I mean for me to come back up into the top l0 after crashirE on the first lap I was thrilled." hstrana went to the slithdy slower ba*up bike for hoto two. The suspension wasn't the same and it again overheated. "Three lap6 in there \,ras ah6olutely no power The little power it had, it kind ofwent." He moved into eithth on the s€cond lap and would ad\rance no farther "We'll get this thing f8ured out. I teel I can defi- nhely do a lot betten I definitely felt like I was top five ridinS lodry we'll llgure it out. we need to 8et ever,,thing sorted, so I Jurgen Kunzel5th/6th Place Defending Supermoto Champion Jurgen Kunzel finished fifth and sixth, both times behind Team Red Bull KTl4 HMC teammate Kurt Nicoll. "Mygoalwas to stay top live," he said of the ,irst race. "lt was for me really ha.d for ridint and finishin8 this race here. t ''; ! ... s 32 JUNE 28,2006 CYCLE NEWS i: i\ I -y 8q{feleuf wo: on q mi:rion in the Unlimited roce. a {_'" r 'I l1 rj --- t r n

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