Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/484201
IN THE WIND P36 AMATEUR MX SWING WINDS DOWN I t was a busy three weeks for some of the country's top amateur motocross racers. Things started off with the Ricky Carmichael Daytona Amateur Super- cross, followed by back-to-back races in Texas—the Oak Hill GNC Finals, and the just concluded James Stewart Spring Championship at Freestone MX in Wortham. As always, the racing was intense at the Texas finale with no one rider stealing the show, but there were many multiple class winners, including Maxi- mus Vohland who rode his fleet of KTMs to the 65cc 7-11 and 10-11 Limited, and 85cc 9-11 Limited class championships. Missouri's Lance Kobusch went home with two titles in the Mini Sr. 12-13 and 85cc 9-13 classes, as did Husqvarna rider Jalek Swoll in the Supermini 1 12-15 and Mini Sr. 2 12-14 classes. Kawasaki Team Green's Austin Forkner continued his winning ways in the 250 B/C and Schoolboy B/C 13-16 divisions. Some of the top A class riders included 450cc A winner Tristan Charboneau (Hon- da) and 250 A winner Mitchell Harrison (Kawasaki). Danel Baker (KTM) won the Open Pro Sport-class Championship. The event also held a round of the Women's MX National Series, with Kawasaki rider Kylie Fasnacht taking the overall win with 1-1 moto finishes. Second overall went to Marissa Markelon (Kawasaki, 2-2) and third to MacKenzie Tricker (Yamaha, 3-3). BAYLISS' SUPERBIKE FORAY T roy Bayliss was back in the thick of things at the front of the World Superbike field in Thailand—and loving it, early in the weekend. "Definitely more like myself," Bayliss said. "That is just a little more time on the bike and changes to get it a little bit more suiting me." A rider who always pushed his bikes around under him, Bayliss was doing more of that at the Chang International Circuit than he had been in Phillip Island last month. "I am starting to feel like, sort of the old way, where I wrestled the bike more," he said. "It had been wrestling me at PI [Phil- lip Island] and then in the first day here. Now it seems to be coming the right way. But there are so many electronics on this thing; it is also getting my head around some of that stuff. We will see, it is not over yet, we are just starting." It appeared that Bayliss was doing his trademark toe scrap- ing—sparks flying everywhere from the toe-slider pucks—ex- cept it wasn't according to Troy. "That was the gear lever touch- ing down," he said. "So we shortened it. I do not even use toe sliders now, but I used to use titanium ones." The main question for Bayl- iss was would he run again in the Aragon and Assen rounds, which come along in mid April? While the three-time World Champion was on the fence at the beginning of the weekend, by the end he made the deci- sion to hang up his hat. "I came back in particular circumstances and wanted to do one more event after Phillip Island to see how it would go," Bayliss said via team release. "I love racing, Ducati and the people that work here and it's been really great to race with the Panigale R Superbike. I was lucky enough to finish my career fit and healthy and I've seen that I can still be fast, but now I am ready to return to enjoying life with my family in Australia." Gordon Ritchie PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE No more World Superbike for Troy Bayliss.