Ward Sweeps Day Two in Denver

The weather was unsettled at Denver’s Invesco Field for the second day of the Fay Myers Suzuki Supermoto Classic, but Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Jeff Ward was rock solid.

The former champion won the 13th and 14th rounds of the AMA Supermoto Championship on Saturday to further stretch his championship points lead after taking one of two races on Friday. With three rounds remaining, Ward leads Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Doug Henry by 22 points, 300 to 278, but he knows it’s not enough.

“It was nice to beat Doug (Henry) every race here; that’s what I needed to do,” Ward said. “But last year I had a great points lead too and lost it. Unless I've got over 25 points going into that last moto, I haven’t won it. It’s 50 points at (the final round at) Long Beach, and I’m not going to have a 50 point lead going in, so I’ve got to stay healthy and I've got to finish races. So it’s not over, it’s just a good weekend for us.”

With rain threatening, race officials moved up the first Supermoto race by half an hour to 2:00 p.m. Ward got the jump and led the entire way, but with Henry on his tail. The Yamaha rider bumped him a few times, but to no avail. And when a light drizzle began to fall late in the race, it made both riders more cautious. Ward outraced Henry to the line by .707 seconds. Ward’s teammate Chris Fillmore was a distant third.

Between the first and second Supermoto races, rain plagued the end of the Supermoto Lites race and doused Supermoto Unlimited. But after it stopped the decision was made to clean the track, rather than run on a wet and muddy surface.

When the riders lined up for the late afternoon second moto, the dirt sections had been rehabilitated and the asphalt was mostly dry, with a few small rivulets.

Ward got the holeshot and was gone. His lead was three seconds on the first lap and he increased it with ease.

What allowed the gap to grow was the fight behind him. Instead of Henry and teammate Mark Burkhart chasing him, the pursuing pack was led by KTM’s Kurt Nicoll and GP Husqvarna’s Troy Herfoss, with Henry and Burkhart farther in the pack, along with others.

“I got a good start and I got clean through turn one and the bike had good grip,” Ward said. “Down there,” at the head of the straight, “I’d just lean back and get good grip. I had a good line through that wash there, I’d get back on the dry and just hit it straight instead of an angle. It seemed to be the best way. Through the dirt section, the dirt section was perfect traction-wise, so I just pinned it through there. And, I mean if it was Doug (Henry) or Mark (Burkhart) behind me, it wouldn’t have been as big a gap, but Kurt (Nicoll) is a couple of seconds off the pace. So I saw that and I think it was Troy Herfoss was second or third. I knew I had to just keep pushing to get a big lap.

Henry moved into third on the fourth lap, but by then Ward had built up nearly a ten second lead. While the others fought, Ward stayed clear of the fracas and won easily, backing off at the end to win by 5.083 seconds.

Henry and Burkhart swapped places on the final lap, with Henry re-taking second and Burkhart third.

Burkhart crashed out of the first moto, but re-mounted and rode slowly to the finish, three laps down. He remains fourth in the championship behind Troy Lee Designs Honda's Chris Fillmore, sixth in race two, 243 to 219.

Team Troy Lee Design’s Honda’s Cassidy Anderson got back to his winning ways after Friday’s second place. Anderson and Friday’s winner Brandon Currie (Yam) were pulling away when Anderson slipped in a tight hairpin, taking Currie with him,late on the third lap.

“I actually didn’t go down,” Anderson said. “I stalled it and kind of like halfway tipped over. I was struggling with that turn in that moto for some reason."

That put Red Baron Racing’ David Pingree (KTM) into the lead for the first time, but not for long. It was Anderson over Currie by lap five, with Pingree third, and he kept it there until the end of the 11 lap race, shortened from 14, as the rain increased.

The margin of victory was 2.329 seconds.

“You can’t even believe how slick that asphalt is right now,” Anderson said. “We almost went with the rains (tires), but we thought the clouds would hold off. You basically have to keep the straight up and down, don’t lean it over whatsoever, as little front brake as possible. Just try and slow down with your gears instead of using your brakes.”

Mach 1 Motorsports Danny Casey (Yam) took his first podium with a third.

Anderson leads Currie in the championship 172 to 151 with three races to go.

Pingree dropped back to seventh after falling.

The Supermoto Unlimited race was run in a driving rain and won by a driving away David Baffeleuf of France.

The former ice racing champion, known as the “Ice Man,” crowned himself the “Rain Man” today.

The GP Husqvarna rider was peerless, getting away early and quickly amassing a huge lead. It was 20 seconds by lap four and ended at over 17.

Where Baffeleuf was particularly impressive was in the dirt downhill leading back to the asphalt. That was the site of an inordinate amount of crashers, including some of the front runners.

Team Red Bull KTM HMC’s Ben Carlson was a distant second with Baffeleuf’s teammate Gary Trachy equally far back in third.

Baffeleuf took the championship lead from All Access Racing’s Micky Dymond (KTM). Dymond crashed twice, including once on the downhill, and finished sixth.

With three races to go, Baffeleuf has an eight point lead, 139 to 131.

Supermoto Race One:

1. Jeff Ward (Honda)

2. Doug Henry (Yamaha)

3. Chris Fillmore (Honda)

4. Jurgen Kunzel (KTM)

5. Kurt Nicoll (KTM)

6. Steve Drew (KTM)

7. Troy Herfoss (Husqvarna)

8. Josh Chisum (KTM)

9. Travis Marks (Honda)

10. Matt Burton (Yamaha)

Supermoto Race Two:

1. Jeff Ward (Honda)

2. Doug Henry (Yamaha)

3. Mark Burkhart (Yamaha)

4. Jurgen Kunzel (KTM)

5. Kurt Nicoll (KTM)

6. Chris Fillmore (Honda)

7. Steve Drew (KTM)

8. Jason Conlon (Yamaha)

9. Matt Burton (Yamaha)

10. Josh Chisum (KTM)

Supermoto Lites:

1. Cassidy Anderson (Honda)

2.329 2. Brandon Currie (Yamaha)

15.519 3. Danny Casey (Yamaha)

4. Matt Abbott (Kawasaki)

5. Dalton Dimick (Honda)

6. Robbie Horton (Kawasaki)

7. David Pingree (KTM)

8. Casey Yarrow (Yamaha)

9. Matt Pursley (Yamaha)

10. Chris Fischer (Yamaha)

Supermoto Unlimited:

1. David Baffeleuf (Husqvarna)

2. Ben Carlson (KTM)

18.362 3. Gary Trachy (Husqvarna)

34.860 4. John Lewis (KTM)

5. Steve Hatch (KTM)

6. Micky Dymond (KTM)

7. Robert Loire (Husaberg)

8. Nick Daniels (Husqvarna)

9. Daniel Jannette (KTM)

10. Brian Lehfeldt (KTM)