The Navy Moto X World Championships got things started this morning at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. The first to earn a gold medal was Graves Yamaha’s Mark Burkhart, who put on a great show by coming from behind to take the Supermoto X win. Second place went to Red Bull KTM’s Troy Herfoss and Troy Lee Designs/Honda rider Jeff Ward took the bronze.

Rather than the single 45-minute race typical of X Games, the Moto X Supermoto race was a heat-semi-main format with two riders from each eight-rider field transferring to the final. The course was what riders called somewhat of a crapshoot, especially off the start. About 50 feet off the gate was a flat, hard-packed 180-degree turn, under a tunnel and into the first dirt rhythm. The main event was actually the only race of the supermoto program that got off to a clean start. Every heat and semi before that had some kind of tangle. But the rest of the course made for good racing; multiple lines made for a lot of passing and some close finishes.

Troy Herfoss had the fast lap from Friday’s qualifiers. But Graves rider Mark Burkhart discovered an advantage in the six-pack, and was the only rider to triple through it. That triple-triple combination let him make up huge ground on the field – which was necessary after he got squeezed off the start and found himself buried in the pack heading into the first lap of the final.

Herfoss held the early lead ahead of Ward, who was nipping at his heels. Ward made his way around Herfoss in the rhythm section for the lead, but Herfoss never let him get away. Meanwhile, Burkhart was making his way through from a ninth-place start. Once into the top five, KTM’s Chris Fillmore handed him fourth after Fillmore slid out. Tripling through the six-pack after re-entering the stadium let him make up a lot of time on the front-runners, and it wasn’t long before Burkhart was on the rear wheel of Herfoss. He made the move for second, and then got around Ward for the lead on the next lap. From there, Burkhart checked out, leaving Ward and Herfoss to battle for second. Herfoss made his pass on Ward late in the race, and held on for the silver medal.

Tune into ESPN to catch the remaining events of the Moto X World Championships, continuing today and tomorrow at Qualcomm Stadium.

Supermoto Final Results
1. Mark Burkhart (Yam)
2. Troy Herfoss (KTM)
3. Jeff Ward (Hon)
4. Cassidy Anderson (Hon)
5. Benny Carlson (Apr)
6. Jason Conlon (Hon)
7. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
8. Kurt Nicoll (KTM)
9. Brandon Currie (Yam)
10. David Pingree (Hon)
11. Josh Chisum (Hon)
12. Dalton Dimick (Kaw)