Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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he and his crew were right on the money as far as course operations and were not the cause of any mis- communication. "As a racer myself," Canet commented, "I can only imagine coming around there and seeing Factory Yamaha getting the wheels changed and starting to doubt thinking, 'Omigod, I better come in the next lap myself.' So it kind of starts a chain reaction." Riders who pitted prematurely were required by race promoters to pit again in the designated window, or face disqualification. Consequently, Henry - who had been running second to Burkhart, lost additional time making a second stop, as did Reed. "When I pitted [the first time]," Henry said, "I came around the next two laps and there was nobody pitting. So I knew we screwed up and I was waiting for a meat- ball flag or something. They didn't [give me one], but they told the crew that I had to pit again; otherwise I would have been disqualified. And we couldn't just go through the stopand-go; we had to do the whole thing all over again. We had to put fuel in and change the rear wheel." Unfortunately, it affected more than just Henry and Reed's pit stops. Although he only pitted once, Burkhart lost more time overall than his two teammates. "We just had a bad pit stop," Burkhart said. "Something happened; I don't know what. But it's done with now. I had fun after the pit stop. I just came out and I was behind Jeff (Ward) by, like, 10 seconds and I just started trying to catch him." Despite the debacle, most teams and riders still enjoyed the idea of having a pit stop in the race. Those familiar with the sport know that stopping for fuel and a tire change is not necessary in a race that size. Though it may be superfluous, it adds a new facet and an added challenge to the race - not to mention an exciting exhi- bition for the live television broadcast. At the close of the pit window, the race order had been effectively shuffled. Ward now led the charge, with Burkhart 10 seconds back and Henry nearly 30 seconds off in third. McGrath had worked his way into the top five, but had a problem with his dry break after his pit stop. It appeared - through no fault of his pit crew - that the valve stuck and didn't seal up. Gas was spilling out once he reached the dirt section and he gradually slowed to a stop. After failed attempts to get it to pop back up and seal, McGrath pulled back into the pits where it was fixed. He rejoined the race in tenth place, losing any hopes of a podium finish. Burkhart had a remarkable charge in the last laps of the race, reeling in Ward at about a second per lap. Before long, Burkhart was on Ward's rear tire, searching for a way around. "In the dirt, through the rhythm," Burkhart said, "I was going to maybe pur- posely case the heck out of the last triple and just go straight across, getting inside of him. I don't know if it would have worked but I might have wrecked, too. I just didn't want to do anything stupid. I thought maybe I could pass him in the last turn when he went outside. I got kind of beside him, but he had the drive coming through the turn." Ward crossed the finish-line jump with Burkhart only 0.572 seconds behind him. Henry finished a distant but solid third. Fillmore ran out of gas on the last lap, hand- ing fourth to Reed and Lazzarini finished fifth. Factory Aprilia rider Daryl Atkins (actually riding a CRF450R since Aprilia's V-twin wasn't allowed) finished sixth after a remarkable charge from 17th place. McGrath was able to salvage a seventh-place finish ahead of KTM's Benny Carlson. Travis Pastrana finished ninth and Cassidy Anderson rounded out the top ten. CN HOME DEPOT CENTER LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA RESULTS: AUGUST 6, 2006 SUPERMOTO: 1. Jeff Ward (Hon); 2. Mark Burkhart (Yam); 3. Doug Henry (Yam); 4. Chad Reed (Yam); 5. Ivan Lazzarini (Hus); 6. Darryl Atkins (Hon); 7. Jeremy McGrath (Hon); 8. Benny Carlson (KTM); 9. Travis Pastrana (Suz); 10. Cassidy Anderson (Hon); 11. Chris Fillmore (Hon); 12. Micky Dymond (KTM); 13. Juergen Kuenzel (KTM); 14. Carey Hart (Hon); 15. Josh Chisum (Hon); 16. Gary Trachy (Hus). C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 23, 2006 47 what Bartram called the least-horsepowered and heaviest car, by far, in the two-wheel-drive class, they defended their class lead and completed the final stage of the Rally Car race. In addition to Bartram, the Moto X Freestyle Final was miss- ing several key players due to carnage during practice and qualifying. Ronnie Faisst had a tail whip go horribly wrong when he didn't bring the bike back around and landed per- pendicularly to the landing. He hit the ground hard, but after a few minutes and some assistance, was able to walk away. Nate Adams, who may or may not have left an imprint of his face on the floor of the Home Depot Center, was not quite as fortunate. His came into a no-handed lander a little less than perfect and paid the price, getting knocked out cold. KTM's Mat Rebeaud showcased the best possible way to come up short on a 115 foot jump. The X Fighters cham- pion ditched the bike in midair, coming feet-first into the landing and slid down the ramp. "I'm pretty lucky." Rebeaud said. "I have nothing broken and I can stand up after that crash." Unlike Bartram, Faisst and Adams, Rebeaud went on to compete in the Freestyle Final, which was won by Travis Pastrana, with Adam Jones and Mike Mason taking silver and gold, respectively. After making a splash in '04 with the historic face-off between Matt Buyten and Jeremy McGrath, the Moto X Step Up was back. The unique event, however, has been noticeably lacking ever since the famous showdown. This year's event featured the same style jump as last year, which riders were visibly dissatisfied with. Most of the riders were out in the first round, with only McGrath and Buyten advanc- ing to the second. Buyten had one more clean jump of 23 feet (compared to a final height of 32 feet last year), which McGrath was unable to match, giving the gold to Buyten. Eddy Seel of Spa, Belgium, made the trip to the states to once again compete in the X Games. Seel was aboard a Suzuki RM-Z450 and qualified ninth in seeding. But during Sunday morning's pre-race practice, he cased the triple in the dirt section, injuring his back. He was unable to race, so his spot on the starting line was filled by the first alternate, Troy Lee Honda rider Jeff Chisum. One of the few representing the off-road crowd, Steve Hatch was present at the X Games aboard a Red Baron KTM as the second alternate. "We got the call for here literally a week ago. We were in New York at the time and they called us and said, 'Hey, you're an alter- nate for the X Games!' So then we drove the motorhome and [have been running] 24/7 to even get a bike. Unfortunately, two guys either have to back out or withdraw for me to get into the main race. But at least I got to practice Friday and got to quali- fy." Hatch didn't make it into the final race, but had a great time and was honored to (almost) be a part of the X Games. Gary "Silent H" Trachy's perseverance at the X Games was quite admirable. Recent victor of the Pikes Peak Hill- climb, Trachy handled the flat, slick turns with ease, but was one of many riders who struggled through the technical dirt section. He cased and/or crashed his way through the sec- tion, lap after lap, and continued to charge hard all the way to the finish. Briefly... Continued from page 43 Burkhart (6) reels in Ward (3) in the last laps of the race. Separated by a mere half-second at the end, Ward (3) edged out Burkhart (6) for the gold.