Mark Burkhart got his first victory of the season in the XTRM/AMA Supermoto Championship when he easily outdistanced Sylain Bidart and Jeff Ward to win the second round of the series at Sonoma, California’s Infineon Raceway, today.

Burhart (pictured) moved his Burkhart Racing/HMC Racing KTM ahead of Bidart’s CHM Exhaust/Honda Pro Oils CRF450R on the second lap of the 20-lap race and then pulled away to a six-second margin at the finish.

Bidart fell at the mid-way point of the race while running second and spent the rest of the race working his way back into the runner-up position, which he did with the laps winding down.

Ward finished third despite the fact that he was leaking oil from his Troy Lee Design/Red Bull Honda over the final half-dozen laps. Wardy had been as high as second (after Bidart fell) but backed off the pace when he nearly lost it because of oil on his rear tire.

Burkhart’s win was a good bit of redemption after the disastrous finish to his season last year at this very track. Burkhart had arrived at the Infineon finale with a chance to take the overall win but it all went out the window when he suffered a rare mechanical.

“It’s good to have a win for my own good, and do good for me and Mitch [Hansen], who is helping me out,” said Burkhart. “Hopefully, we can keep this thing going.”

“Once I got off the line in second, I had a couple of good places to pass out there and I made a move on Bidart on the second lap in turn one and took the lead,” said Burkhart. “After that, I just worked my way around the track and tried to ride a smart race.”

The only blemish on Burkhart’s day was a wash-out in one of the dirt berms, three laps from the end of the race. At the time Burkhart had the race well in hand and the only suspense centered around whether he kept the engine running, since four-strokes are notoriously difficult to start when they are hot. Burkhart, indeed, kept his engine running and still managed to finish the race with a safe margin over Bidart.

Bidart’s teammate Jason Conlon rode one of his best-ever races to finish fourth, while two-time Lites champion Brandon Currie finished fifth on the BC Racing/Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZ450F.

In the Unlimited division, KTM’s Kurt Nicoll grabbed the holeshot and rode off to a massive lead, taking the win with over 16 seconds to spare over Mach 1 Motorsports/Hart & Huntington’s Steve Drew, who fell twice en route to the runner-up spot.

Mach 1 Motorsports Danny Casey lead every lap to win the Lites division ahead of Casey Yarrow and Dustin Hoffman.

SUPERMOTO: 1. Mark Burkhart (KTM); 2. Sylvain Bidart (Hon); 3. Jeff Ward (Hon); 4. Jason Conlon (Hon); 5. Brandon Currie (Yam); 6. Derek Costella; 7. Micky Dymond (Hon); 8. Ola Eifrem; 9. Travis Marks; 10. Tyler OHara; 11. Brandon Case; 12. Chris Podergois; 13. David Dymond; 14. Nathan Garcia; 15. Crisain Olguin; 16. Kiyoshi Saai; 17; Ryan Kerr; 18. Evan Cox; 19. Lance Garza; 20. Joey Hrenko.
   
SUPERMOTO LITES: 1. Dan Casey (Hon); 2. Casey Yarrow; 3. Dustin Hoffman; 4. Brandon Ward (Hon); 5. Cameron Welsh; 6. Matt Bruton (KTM); 7. Jacob Lehmann; 8. Cody Bastian; 9. Sean Butterman; 10. Chalmer Gregg; 11. Mike Camera; 12. Rick Baldwin..
   
SUPERMOTO UNLIMITED: 1. Kurt Nicoll (KTM); 2. Steve Drew (Hon); 3. Martin Lindl 4. Justin Ross; 5. Cory Gabbert; 6. Monte Frank; 7. Josh Chisum; 8. Craig Peyron; 9. Doni Wanat; 10. Dave Flashberger; 11. Matt Stewart; 12. Chris Kemp; 13. Jeremy Santoro.