2003 AMA Redbull Supermoto Round 5
Irwindale, CA - The smoke filled air had all but cleared from the skies over L.A. as a result of devastating wildfires on this first evening of November but not for long. Only this time the contaminants circulating on this crisp fall night wouldn't be smoke and ash. It turned out to be a dust cloud whipped into frenzy by some of the biggest names in motorcross, roadracing and dirttrack. The AMA's fledgling new race series, Supermoto, made it's only Southern California stop as round five of six in what is sure to be a race series that will build with popularity just about as fast as the fires ate up the Golden State.
Supermoto, for the uninitiated, combines the sky high dirty antics of motocross with the peg grinding skill of roadracing, all in an area not much bigger than your typical moto/supercross track. Supermotard as it was previously dubbed by the French, which means loosely "Superbiker, had it's moment in the sun in the late 1970's courtesy of ABC's Wide World of Sports. In essence the machines are dirtbikes with modified suspension and 17" wheels shod with sticky roadracing tires. They also being modified in order to deal with the dirt portion of the track with consumes roughly half of the course. A series of mild jumps (mild compared to your typical super or motocross track) and banked dirt turns present just enough grief to make getting back on paved surface demanding , that no one rider can rely heavily on only one type of riding even for the skilled likes of Doug Henry, Jeff Ward, Ben Bostrom, Joe Kopp, Jürgen Künzel and ever colorful, yet always lovable Mike Metzger, just to name a few.
The two main events in what was a day long affair at the Irwindale Speedway, known locally for it's half mile auto racing, were the Supermoto Unlimited Final and Supermoto main. Borrowing from World SuperBike a "SuperPole" preceeded the Unlimited Final, which was won by Doug Henry of Yamaha but only by one second over KTM'S Jürgen Künzel. A shinny gold watch was awarded to Doug for the laptime of 1:15.424.
But Jürgen would have his revenge as he walked away with Unlimited Final win and never looked back after about lap three in the 20 lap race. Which left the real race between second and third place. This action was getting brutish as Joe Kopp and Ben Carlson, both of KTM, were never less than sniffing distance from one another's exhaust pipe. The final say would be Kopp's, drawing on his finely honed dirt skills from a successful career in dirttrack, to pass Carlson mid-turn on the last lap to take second place. By the way, this pass was underneath Carlson, in the dirt!
The final race of the night, the Supermoto Main, held the biggest assemblage of notables which drew upon the big three, motocross, roadracing and dirttrack, for it's supply of combatants. Once again, Doug Henry, Joe Kopp, Jürgen Künzel, Larry Pegram and Ben Carlson would return from the Unlimited Main, to be joined by Ben Bostrom, Jeff Ward and Mike Metzger to name a few, to create a spicy little mix of some of the most loved names in motorbike racing today.
And in this race Doug Henry would summons the skill used to win him the SuperPole to take the win in a "goin' away" fashion. Jürgen Künzel fought long and hard to maintain the lead early on, but found himself going backwards as the 20 lapper wore on to be relegated to 2nd place. As the race field stretched out into a seemingly endless parade of thumpers, as this type of race does to a large field, Ben Bostrom forged ahead from 5th to 3rd early on in the span of less than three laps only to fall victim to showman and crowd favorite Mike Metzger in the end who proudly took his place on the podium for third. Ben Carlson, Ben Bostrom and Joe Kopp topped off the following three with Larry Pegram finishing in 8th and Roger Lee Hayden of the rapidly mounting Hayden Boys racing dynasty taking an 11th place finish.
A new firestorm of a benign nature is being kindled within the motorbike racing world in the U.S. with the AMA fanning the flames. And they've picked some of the most combustible names in racing today to spark what will be an ever expanding series as racers from across the gamut flock to the flames to join in what is just plain fun racing.
If you find yourself in Las Vegas on November 20, make a date to attend the season closer of the AMA Honda RedBull Supermoto Series. You'll be at the flashpoint of great racing!
Supermoto - Race results |
Pos. | No. | Rider name | Hometown | Bike | Laps | Team |
1 | 369 | Doug Henry | Torrington, CT | Yamaha YZ450 | 20 | Team Motodynamics Tuluie Yamaha |
2 | 97 | Jürgen Künzel | Germany | KTM 450SX | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 1 |
3 | 875 | Michael F Metzger | Menifee, CA | Honda CRF450R | 20 | Team Zoo York Honda Metzger |
4 | 45 | Benjamin Carlson | West Bend, WI | KTM 450SX | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 1 |
5 | 155 | Ben Bostrom | Las Vegas, NV | Honda CRF450 | 20 | Honda Racing |
6 | 30 | Joe Kopp | Mica, WA | KTM 450SX | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 2 |
7 | 94 | Mark Avard | Balcolyn, NSW, Australia | Suzuki DR-Z400 | 20 | Pacifico Saunders Suzuki |
8 | 52 | Larry Pegram | Baltimore, OH | KTM 450SX | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 2 |
9 | 2 | Josh Chisum | Bakersfield, CA | Honda CRF450 | 20 | Troy Lee Designs Honda |
10 | 61 | Mark Burkhart | Pickerington, OH | Yamaha YZF450 | 20 | RAD Racing Disanto Yamaha |
11 | 21 | Roger Lee Hayden | Owensboro | Honda CRF450 | 20 | American Supercamp Walker Honda |
12 | 343 | Matthew J Pursley | St Louis, MO | Yamaha YZ450 | 20 | Fat Boy Racing Wilburn Yamaha / Honda |
13 | 62 | Cory Call | Sacramento, CA | Honda CRF450 | 20 | CHM Exhaust McAllister Motorsports Honda I |
14 | 48 | Laurent Beguelin | St Tropez, France | Honda CRF450 | 19 | CHM Exhaust McAllister Motorsports Honda II |
15 | 450 | Shane Turpin | Salt Lake City, UT | KTM 450 | 19 | MotoVoy Scott KTM |
16 | 39 | Matt Burton | Ottumwa, IA | Yamaha YZ450 | 19 | Fat Boy Racing Wilburn Yamaha / Honda |
17 | 357 | Gary Trachy | Orange, CA | Honda CRF450 | 19 | Fasst Company Trachy Honda |
18 | 92 | Casey A Yarrow | Fairfield, CA | Honda CRF450 | 19 | CHM Exhaust McAllister Motorsports Honda I |
19 | 56 | Don Hart | Antelope, CA | Honda CRF450 | 19 | Pinit Motorsports Polk Honda |
20 | 47 | Brett Landes | Los Gatos, CA | Honda CRF450 | 13 | CHM Exhaust McAllister Motorsports Honda I |
21 | 3 | Jeff Ward | San Juan Capistrano, CA | Honda CRF450 | 9 | Troy Lee Designs Honda |
22 | 232 | Nick Daniels | Mattoon, IL | Yamaha YZF450 | 9 | Fat Boy Racing Wilburn Yamaha / Honda |
23 | 11 | Christopher Fillmore | Oxford, MI | KTM 450SX | 7 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 1 |
24 | 73 | Steven Drew | Yorba Linda, CA | Honda CRF450 | 0-DNF | White Brothers Moto Master Brent Honda |
Supermoto Unlimited - Race results |
Pos. | No. | Rider name | Hometown | Bike | Laps | Team |
1 | 97 | Jürgen Künzel | Germany | KTM 525 | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 1 |
2 | 30 | Joe Kopp | Mica, WA | KTM 525SX | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 2 |
3 | 45 | Benjamin Carlson | West Bend, WI | KTM 525 | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 1 |
4 | 73 | Steven Drew | Yorba Linda, CA | Honda XR650R | 20 | White Brothers Moto Master Brent Honda |
5 | 11 | Christopher Fillmore | Oxford, MI | KTM 525 | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 1 |
6 | 27 | Leonardo Bagnis | Bakersfield, CA | Vertemati 570 | 20 | East Hills Motorsports Harrington Vertemati |
7 | 690 | Ryan Hughes | KTM 540 | 20 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 2 | |
8 | 43 | Mickey Dymond | Placentia, CA | 20 | All Access ASD Eastland Honda | |
9 | 102 | Mark Avard | Balcolyn, NSW, Australia | KTM 525 | 20 | Kern Knight KTM |
10 | 357 | Gary Trachy | Orange, CA | KTM 525 | 19 | Fasst Company Trachy Honda |
11 | 450 | Shane Turpin | Salt Lake City, UT | KTM 525 | 19 | MotoVoy Scott KTM |
12 | 46 | Jeff Harrington | Bakersfield, CA | Vertemati 600 | 19 | East Hills Motorsports Harrington Vertemati |
13 | 108 | Chuck McCarty | Ontario, CA | KTM 525SX | 19 | Carty's Racing McCarty KTM |
14 | 111 | Jeff Matiasevich | Fullerton, CA | Kawasaki KX500 | 19 | Pro Circuit Matiasevich Kawasaki |
15 | 83 | Calvin Andlovec | Roseville, CA | KTM 525 | 19 | Fast 50's Mason Honda / Yamaha |
16 | 63 | Chuck Sun | N Las Vegas, NV | KTM 660 | 18 | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 2 |
17 | 82 | Craig Mason | Auburn, CA | KTM 525 | 18 | Fast 50's Mason Honda / Yamaha |
18 | 26 | Brian Catterson | Costa Mesa, CA | Husqvarna TE610 | 17 | Team Cagiva Catterson Husqvarna |
19 | 77 | Mike Krynock | Sunny Vale, CA | KTM 525 | 15 | Des Motosport Krynock KTM |
20 | 106 | Gerald Delepine | Belgium | Vertemati 570 | 13 | East Hills Motorsports Harrington Vertemati |
21 | 6 | Mark Cernicky | Newport Beach, CA | KTM 525 | 12 | Yoshimura Joe Rocket Honda Dunlop |
22 | 104 | Kenny Carlotta | Gilroy, CA | KTM 525 | 8 | Kern Knight KTM |
23 | 151 | Jens Hainbach | Schotten, Germany | Husaberg 650 | 2 | BMG Blake Husaberg |
24 | 52 | Larry Pegram | Baltimore, OH | KTM 525SX | 0-DNS | Red Bull HMC KTM Supermoto Racing Team 2 |
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