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year and moved David Baffeleuf up a posi- tion to second. Leonard Bagnis finished third, while Carlson rebounded for fourth. The combination of Baffeleuf's runner- up finish and Carlson's fourth gave Baffeleuf the lead in the series standings by a single point over Carlson. It also moved Dymond back into contention for the title. SUPERMOTO RACE ONE Henry won the drag race to the first turn, leading Fillmore, Ward, Burkhart and Herfoss into the first lap over the rolling ups and downs of the eight-tenths of a mile,Waterford Hills course. Henry immediately gapped the field as Ward tried desperately to get around Fillmore as quickly as possible in an effort to keep Henry from gaining too much ground. Ward's efforts seemed futile, as Fillmore would pull away in the fast asphalt areas, with Ward gaining it right back in the tight dirt motocross sections. Finally on lap four, Ward snuck under- neath Fillmore in a sweeping left-hander, but by now, Henry was 10 lengths in the front and pulling away. Further back, defending champ Jurgen Kunzel, Herfoss and Kunzel's Red Bull KTM HMC teammate Kurt Nicoll were engaged in a battle over fifth, with Kunzell holding a slight advantage. However, head- ing off of a fast downhill section, Nicoll and Herfoss made contact, which ended with Nicoll crashing violently down the track. "We came into the fast, 90-mile-per- hour corner," Herfoss said. "You kind of hang it out to the left and then you back it into a right and then you flick it back. Nicoll was passing me as I was coming in and when I flicked it back, I went into his path and he clipped my rear wheel and went down. It was bad, I saw the whole thing and he was just tumbling and tum- bling and tumbling." On lap six, Burkhart passed Fillmore for third. With the laps winding down and while holding what appeared to be a safe lead, Henry cut too close to one of the corner barriers and went down. "You are trying to use every inch of the track, and I just tried to cut it an inch too close and clipped the tire," Henry said. "It threw me over the bars and I highsided. I think I am going to need some stitches in my elbow and my hip is sore, but I've got a long time to recover." Henry frantically kicked until his Yamaha finally fired to life, but by then, Ward, Burkhart and Fillmore were all able to get by. At the finish, Ward claimed his fourth win of the year, while Henry held on to fourth, behind Burkhart and Fillmore. SUPERMOTO RACE TWO Henry proved just how fast his Yamaha really is by once again outrunning Ward and Burkhart down the long straight to the first turn. "The holeshots really helped this week," Henry said. "It was really tricky to pass out there, and I knew it was going to be tough, so I wanted to nail those starts. We have been lacking in the starts. Last week in Utah, Mark and I both had great jumps, but the Troy Lee guys were able to pull us to the first turn, but the Graves Yamaha team really stepped it up this week and we were able to get some more power and we were able to get into the first turn first." This time around Cernic's Suzuki's Travis Pastrana got a decent start as well and was C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 19, 2006 17 The Detroit Supermoto event was original- ly scheduled to be held at the Palace of Auburn Hills, which is a major concert, ice- hockey and basketball venue for the Detroit market. However, at the last minute, the race was moved to the Water- ford Hills Raceway in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, because of a "situation beyond the promoter's control." According to the Waterford Hills Raceway web site, those concerns turned out to be permit issues with the city of Auburn Hills and tim- ing concerns that the promoters had. Waterford Hill Raceway is a 1.4-mile sports-car course and parts of the road course, as well as some of the pit area, were used to create a challenging Super- moto track. The Supermoto race marked the venue's first motorcycle-racing event. Nine-time AMA National Trials Champion Geoff Aaron was brought in by the pro- moters to perform his ERE Moto Trial X- Show in between races. The show features Aaron attacking a series of impossible-look- ing obstacles, including a 10-foot vertical wall. Aaron's show also includes plenty of ground tricks, including 180-degree heli- copters, bunny hops, and full-speed stop- pies. Freestyle motocrosser Trevor Vines was on hand, as well, and amazed the crowds with his aerial stunts. The Detroit round was a homecoming of sorts for Graves Yamaha's Chris Fillmore, who was born in nearby Pontiac and is a resident of Oxford, Michigan, just up the road. "I grew up riding at Baja Hills, which is just a couple of miles up the road from here," Fillmore said. "Being a hometown race doesn't make it any easier, but it defi- nitely makes it more fun, because all my buddies and family were here pulling for me." Fillmore went 3-4 in Detroit and now sits in fourth overall in the series standings. What was billed as the nation's biggest-ever Pit-Bike Supermoto race, featuring a $5000 purse, was held in conjunction with the Supermoto event. Travis Pastrana claimed the win, and the $1500 first-place prize money that went along with it, after early leader Willy Browning went down on the final lap. Only about one-fourth of the eight-tenths of a mile Detroit course was dirt, giving more of an edge than usual to the asphalt specialists. Fillmore, who prefers the asphalt sections, had plenty of praise for the course. "Being a car track, it's real fast," Fillmore said. "It's too bad we can't use more of the asphalt and make the course longer. It's really good, but I think opening up the dirt sections a little would make it even better, it's pretty tight there. But I think it's going to be a really good race- track, and I hope Waterford Hills keeps the race for next year. If we get more tracks like this it will really get Supermoto going." Jeff Ward was impressed with the track, as well. "This was definitely an A-plus event for our series, that's for sure," Ward said. Briefly... Continued on page 19 Doug Henry (19) took the holeshot in both Supermoto races. Henry had moto one in the bag until crashing two laps from the end. He rebounded to win the second race.