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AMA SUPERMOTO: First-timers Dominate Galveston Supermoto
Written by: Kevin Krefting   
11/02/2007 - 07:00 PM
Galveston, TX
 
Cassidy Anderson landed his first career AMA Supermoto Premier win at round eight of the series in Galveston, Texas. Photo: Scott Rousseau/MXi. » More Photos

Three first-time winners graced the podium during round eight of the AMA Supermoto Championship at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas, today, two of them in their very first appearances on American soil. Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull Honda's Cassidy Anderson earned his first AMA National win in the Supermoto Premier class, while his temporary teammate, Rodney Taplin of Australia won the Supermoto Lites main event and HMC KTM's Ales Hlad of Slovenia won the Supermoto Unlimited main event; Both Taplin and Hlad were making their AMA Supermoto debut.

Reigning AMA Champion Jeff Ward grabbed the holeshot from the pole position to lead the 21-rider field at the start of the 20-lap Supermoto Premier main event, with Anderson slipping into second place after making contact with newly crowned World Supermoto Champion Adrien Chareyre, the LA Fuel/GP Husqvarna ending up tangled in a first-turn crash that had championship implications as it also hampered series points leader Mark Burkhart and deposited third-placed Micky Dymond on the ground along with Mach 1 Motorsports/Xcyto Yamaha's Steve Drew and Monster Energy/Mountain Adventures Kawasaki's Chris Fillmore. The Graves Motorsports Yamaha-backed Burkhart quickly made his way to third place, but then suffered a solo crash at the entrance to the dirt section on lap eight. Burkhart remounted in sixth place.
Jeff Ward (1) led Anderson (15) for most of the race before dropping back to 15th place with gearbox trouble. Photo: Scott Rousseau/MXi. » More Photos

Ward continued to control the race until lap 14, but then he slowed suddenly after his motorcycle refused to shift gears properly, and he handed the lead to Anderson, who held it to the finish to card the win. Ward slipped all the way to 15th before the finish, while Burkhart managed to pass his way to third place on the tight and twisty Moody Gardens track, finishing behind French rider Sylvain Bidart, another visiting World Supermoto Championship contender, who was riding for the CHM Exhaust Honda team.

While Anderson's win had a minimal effect on the Supermoto Premier points standings, Ward's 15th-place finish did. The defending champion now finds himself 17 points behind Burkhart, who leads the series, 178-161, with two rounds remaining. Dymond also found himself slipping backward in the series standings after finishing 13th at Moody Gardens. The two-time former AMA 125cc National Motocross Champion now sits fourth, behind HMC KTM's Troy Herfoss, who finished fourth in the race.
Australia's Rodney Taplin surprised the field by winning the Supermoto Lites main event during his AMA Supermoto debut. Photo: Scott Rousseau, MXi. » More Photos

Like Anderson, Taplin, who spends most of his time contesting the Australian Supermoto Championship, inherited the lead in the 15-lap Supermoto Lites main event. Taplin,
who came back from a rough-looking crash in the dirt during practice to win his heat race, got off the line fourth in the main event, behind the top three campaigners in the class, David Pingree, Brandon Currie and Adam Cini. The GP Husqvarna-backed Cini then stuffed his way past Currie on lap two and hounded Pingree seven laps. Cini attempted to pass Pingree at the end of the dirt section on lap nine, and the resulting contact sent Pingree over the berm, causing him to crash. But Cini's lead was short-lived, as his engine expired a lap later. Currie moved into the lead on lap 10, only to crash in the dirt section on the last lap of the race, allowing Taplin, who had been running steadily in second place since lap 12, to score the win. Currie recovered to finish second, and Pingree made his way back through the field to finish third.

With Pingree returning to action less than six weeks after suffering breaks to both arms at the previous round of the series, the Supermoto Lites title chase is still up for grabs, although Currie still holds a commanding lead over Pingree, 185-164. Cini, who wound up 20th, still sits third in the point standings, with 130.
Slovenia's Ales Hilad (96) held off a determined Adam Cini (33) to win the Supermoto Unlimited main event in his AMA debut. Photo: Scott Rousseau/MXi » More Photos

Hlad was the only winner of the three to lead a race from start to finish. Hlad grabbed the holeshot in the 15-lap Supermoto Unlimited main, leading a freight train that included LA Fuel/GP Husqvarna's Adam Cini, HMC KTM's Kurt Nicoll, HMC KTM's Johnny Lewis and LA Fuel/GP Husqvarna's David Baffeleuf for most of the race. Cini aggressively attacked Hlad several times in the dirt berm that led back onto the track's pavement section, but each time, Hlad kept his cool and refused to buckle. On the last lap of the race, Hlad then threw Cini a change-up by cutting to the inside on the last lap. Cini railed the berm once again, and the two made contact as they exited the turn, with Cini crashing. Hlad trucked on to victory, leading Nicoll and Lewis for an all-KTM sweep of the Supermoto Unlimited podium.

Reigning AMA Supermoto Unlimited Champion Benny Carlson missed a golden opportunity to lock up a second successive class title after his Rip It Energy Fuel Aprilia teammate, Darryl Atkins, crashed in early morning practice and suffered a broken left arm. With Atkins out, Carlson only needed a podium finish to retain the number one plate, but a poor start and a tight track that didn't agree with his Aprilia SXV5.5 forced Carlson into survival mode, and he finished sixth. Carlson now leads Nicoll, 178-133, with Husaberg Racing's Robert Loire third, with 129.