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AMA SUPERMOTO: Burkhart Bags Another Win in Nashville
Written by: Kevin Krefting   
08/31/2007
Nashville, TN
 
Graves Yamaha's Mark Burkhart (Photo: Scott Rousseau, MXi) » More Photos

Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Mark Burkhart once again established himself as the man to beat in the Supermoto Premier class when round six of the AMA Supermoto Championship paid its annual visit to the bullet-fast high banks of the Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tennessee, tonight.

Burkhart, who found himself bounced out of the series points lead after a wild crash that culminated in a sixth-place finish at the previous round of the series in Connecticut, had no such trouble in Nashville, one his favorite stops on the AMA Supermoto tour. After following reigning AMA Supermoto Champion Jeff Ward for the first two laps of the 18-lap feature race for the 450cc machines, Burkhart pulled off a textbook pass on Ward when the two slid into turn one on lap three, taking the lead and then steadily pulling away from the AMA racing legend to earn his fourth win of the season. Burkhart's margin of victory over Ward was a little more than 8.5 seconds. Monster Energy/Mountain Adventures Kawasaki's Chris Fillmore earned his second podium finish of the year by finishing third, another six seconds behind Ward.

Burkart's win allowed him to regain a share of the series points lead, once again tying him with Ward. The two riders now have 133 points each, giving them a 29-point cushion on the third-placed man, Micky Dymond, who played musical bikes in the Music City tonight.

After experiencing the joy of winning the Connecticut round of the series, Dymond suffered catastrophic engine failures on both of his All Access Racing Hondas in Nashville, forcing him to borrow a machine from the Rockstar Energy Drink/Hart & Huntington Tattoo racing team of Carey Hart. Dymond struggled aboard the unfamiliar machine and wound up eighth. CHM Exhaust Honda's Jason Conlon rode a strong race, finishing fourth, followed by LA Fuel/GP Husqvarna's Xavier Bellerophon, HMC KTM's Troy Herfoss and Mach 1 Motorsports Yamaha's Steve Drew. Drew's teammate, Casey Yarrow, finished ninth, and Sigimotor Honda's David Felipe Gaviria was 10th.
Benny Carlson ran his Supermoto Unlimited win tally to five in Nashville. Photo: Scott Rousseau/MXi. » More Photos

Not unlike Burkhart,
Rip It Energy Fuel Aprilia's Benny Carlson re-established himself as the main man in the 12-lap Supermoto Unlimited class. Carlson, the reigning AMA Supermoto Unlimited Champion, ran second and battled with former boss Kurt Nicoll early in the race before passing Nicoll in turn one and then inching away to take the win by 4.9 seconds. The HMC KTM-backed Nicoll went on to finish second, followed by HMC KTM's Johnny Lewis, who made a welcome return to the podium after struggling for much of the season. Rip It Energy Fuel Aprilia's Darryl Atkins was fourth, and Husaberg Racing's Robert Loire was fifth.

With his fifth win in six rounds of racing, Carlson tightened his hammerlock on the class points lead, with 147 to Nicoll's 111. Atkins and Loire are now tied for third place, with 98 points each.
David Pingree stretched his series points lead by collecting his fourt Supermoto Lites win of the year in Nashville. Photo: Scott Rousseau/MXi » More Photos

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull Honda's David Pingree doesn't exactly have the same kind of lead in the Supermoto Lites class that Carlson has in Supermoto Unlimited, but earning his fourth win of the year at Nashville did give Pingree just a little more breathing room over his main Lites-class rival, Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Brandon Currie, who finished second to Pingree for the fourth race in a row.

Pingree grabbed the holeshot at the start of the 12-lap main event and never looked back, while Currie was assessed a stop-and-go penalty after the AMA deemed that he had jumped the start. Currie came in to serve that penalty on the fourth lap, but he mistakenly made his stop in the wrong place on the track and was thus forced to make a second stop. Despite losing several seconds and having to pass the same riders two and three times, Currie was still able to finish in the runner-up spot, minimizing his points loss to Pingree, who won the race by 3.4 seconds.

LA Fuel GP Husqvarna's Adam Cini had a good run in the Lites main event to finish third, ahead of Monster Energy/Mountain Adventures Kawasaki's Matt Abbott and privateer Yamaha rider Jamie Siever.

Pingree now leads Currie, 144-138, while Cini is third with 107.