Race Report
AMA Pro Supermoto Series - Round Six Race Report
Del Mar CA - 10.17.2004
Cheney and I arrived at Del Mar on Saturday and had a walk of the race course. The track was laid out in the parking lot of the San Diego fairgrounds, a massive complex, so there was plenty of room. As is the case with many of the "car park" tracks that our series visits, there were numerous seams and cracks in the pavement, and painted white lines in abundance. In addition, the "Urban Cross" jumps were looking a bit worse for wear, as their diamond plate surfaces have begun to turn up at the edges. The race promoter brought in a clay / DG mixture and built a pretty solid little dirt section, with a double-double rhythm section and a decent-sized tabletop. Our only complaint about the track was that there was no straight of any length, as the back straight was in truth a long, left-hand sweeper. But overall, it was a decent course, with plenty of room for passing and no real safety issues.
On Saturday night, it rained. And rained, and rained, and rained. First rain in Del Mar in 182 days, they said. Sunday morning, the track was under six inches of water in some places. We moved our truck into the "VIP Paddock", which was a gigantic metal warehouse building, with power hookups which allowed us to run the electrics of the van without cranking the generator. The sun came out and the track dried quickly, though the race program suffered an approximate 90 minute delay.
We mounted a new set of Dunlops, soft rear and super-soft front, and grooved them prior to Cheney's first practice session. Graham went out and was mid-pack in the first session. Came in, we added some more cuts and one click of rebound in the rear, and in the second session, he was seventh fastest, about two and a half seconds off of Kunzel's pace. We were very happy with that. Seventh fastest put Cheney on the outside front row of heat number two. Heat two was probably the better draw of the two, with Baffeleuf, Dymond, and Carslon in it - Heat one had Kunzel, Nicholl, Cassidy Anderson, Avard, Bagnis, and Darryl Atkins on the grid.
Green flag for heat two, and what do you know, it's a blue and yellow bike leading the pack into the first corner. Cheney got a great start, and was banging bars with Ben Carlson for the inside line into turn one. Unfortunately, Baffeleuf pushed Graham's rear tire out a bit and Cheney went wide. Carlson and Baffeleuf went inside, and Cheney had to struggle to keep the bike on the racing line. He settled it down and tucked in behind the top two guys for the first lap. Micky Dymond was putting a lot of pressure on Cheney for third spot, and about halfway through the heat, he got by. And that's how heat two finished, with our Husaberg in fourth spot.
The sky was starting to look dark, and around 2:00 PM, it started to sprinkle a bit. Just to be on the safe side, we mounted a set of rains on our spare wheels. Our "spanner" (Aussie for mechanic) for Reno and Del Mar was Dale Corser, Troy Corser's younger brother. Dale is in the states having his shoulder worked on by Dr. Ting, world-renowned orthopedic surgeon. Corser is a fast guy in his own right, but a lazy bugger when it comes to changing tires. In any case, my panic was moot, as it stopped drizzling just before our race.
Cheney's heat two fourth place finish put him on the outside of the second row in the main. He got a solid start, though he got squeezed between Bagnis and Baffeleuf a bit in turn one. As usual, the KTM factory guys checked out at the front, and Graham was left in the second tier, battling with Bagnis on the factory Husqvarna and HMC's Darryl Atkins. Atkins got by Cheney about halfway through the race, and Bagnis stalled the Husky on lap twelve, allowing Graham to take over seventh spot. And that's how it went again, with Cheney circulating for the remaining six or seven laps all by his lonesome.
Our team sits in eighth spot in the Unlimited class. With the exception of our Colorado DNF's in rounds one and two due to Cheney's crash, we've finished seventh or eighth in every race, just behind the KTM and HMC factory-supported KTM teams. We could be doing better, but we could also be doing a lot worse. Both Cheney and I are optimistic about our chances at the season finale. The FS650 has performed flawlessly, and Graham is consistently faster on it. Our next race is in Las Vegas, on November 12-13, in the parking lot at Bally's. Thank you for your support, and best regards from Husaberg-USA's Supermoto Team.
