Ward, Burton, And Nicoll Win At Auto Club Speedway

By Michael Hannas

Photos by Mike Doran
 

In wet, windy, and wild weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Jeff Ward took the victory in the opening round of the AMA/XTRM Supermoto 450 class with Matt Burton taking the Lites win and Kurt Nicoll the victor in the Unlimited class.  The races were held under partly cloudy skies with a mostly dry track after overnight and morning showers had completely soaked the facility and morning practices were held in the wet.

In the 450 class main event, Ward took the holeshot on his TLD Honda but Mark Burkhart quickly put his new KTM into the lead, with CHM Honda’s Sylvain Bidart, Monster Energy’s Brandon Currie, CHM’s Micky Dymond, and Mach One sponsored Tyler O’Hara close behind.  Burkhart looked set to break away but tucked the front in the tricky paint-striped 180-degree left hander on the asphalt right before the dirt section and let most of the pack by before he was able to fire his KTM and get going again.  Ward took the lead with Bidart right on his tail and pressuring, while Currie crashed out of third in the same spot as Burkhart a few laps later.  Wardy and Bidart pulled a gap on the battle for third between Dymond and O’Hara while Burkhart sliced his way back up through the pack.  Bidart kept close to Ward until the finish but was unable to make a move, while Burkhart eventually caught and flew by Dymond and O’Hara to take the final podium spot.

In Lites action, Mach One’s Danny Casey ripped the holeshot over MDK/KTM’s Matt Burton and TLD Honda’s Joey Pascarella.  Casey held Burton at bay for the first few laps as the two battled back and forth and started to gap Pascarella, who was reportedly riding with a freshly broken wrist courtesy of a tumble in the wet morning practice session.  As Casey and Burton hammered on each other up front, they looked to make contact coming out of the dirt section and Casey went down, handing the victory to Burton.  Pascarella got by Casey for second while he was down but Casey held on for the final podium spot over fast northwest youngster Jacob Lehmann.

The Unlimited main was a battle between defending champion Steve Drew on his Hart and Huntington KTM and Jagermeister KTM’s Kurt Nicoll.  Drew ripped the holeshot and led with Nicoll hot on his heels as the two jetted away from the pack.  Nicoll continued to pressure Drew until “Working Class” swapped in the gnarly whoop section and shot off track, letting Nicoll sneak by into the lead.  Nicoll held on until the finish while Drew ended up second over Monte Frank on the new Husaberg 570.

AMA/XTRM Supermoto Championship

Auto Club Speedway, Round One

AMA/XTRM Supermoto 450 Results:

1. Jeff Ward (Hon)
2. Sylvain Bidart (Hon)
3. Mark Burkhart (KTM)
4. Micky Dymond (Hon)
5. Tyler O’Hara (Hon)

AMA/XTRM Supermoto Lites 250 Results:

1. Matt Burton (KTM)
2. Joey Pascarella (Hon)
3. Danny Casey (Hon)

AMA/XTRM Supermoto Unlimited Results:

1. Kurt Nicoll (KTM)
2. Steve Drew (KTM)
3. Monte Frank (Husb)

At press time full results were not yet available from AMA or XTRM.