Karoline, Tim, Dave, Don and I attended the Detroit Supermoto in 2006. We met up with my bud Chris Jensen from SBS/Ohlins/Suomy and had a great time.
No doubt that Supermoto is racing of the future. The whole deal is so cool. At this point Supermoto has not grown to monster proportions. What does that mean for you? Well it means that you are able to get right into the action. Close up with the track and the riders.
They run three classes and it is perfect. The premier class, the lites class and the Unlimited class.
The Detroit/Waterford Hills track is kick ass and tough. The riders loved it and from a spectator standpoint it is next to perfect!
Jeff Ward and Doug Henry swapped wins with Mark Burkhart and Michgan's Chris Fillmore adding drama. These four guys were the class of the field.
However there are many others who are coming up. Troy Herfoss was awesome watching him backing his Husky in. Jurgen Kunzel 2005 AMA Supermoto champ had a 3rd in race 2, Steve Drew who Karoline and I got to know out at XPlex in Vegas had a great day going 6th and 5th for the day. Carey Hart carded a 13th and 11th. Travis Pastrana never came to grips with the track and ran 10th and 11th.
In Supermoto Lites Cassidy Anderson was the class of the field winning the race over Yamaha's Brandon Curry who is another up and coming rider.
Former AMA National motocross champion and current AMA Supermoto Unlimiited Champion Mickey Diamond won the Unlimited race.
Of all of the riders we met I have to say that Doug Henry and Mark Burkhart from Team Yamaha were the coolest riders to meet and talk to. They spent tons of time with the fans and we just plain awesome. Travis Pastrana ranks right with them. Super cool, nice and justgoes out of his way to be cool to the fans. These three are the cream of the crop in customer relations for sure.
Team Troy Lee and the KTM team ranked at the very bottom. You could only meet the riders during certain times with the Troy Lee guys and the KTM guys just rarely came out of the truck. Compared to the Yamaha team and the Pastrana teams or for that matter the majority of other teams they were not impressive in fan interaction. Although Chris Fillmore was more open, probably because it was his home turf.
Three young riders and one older rider stand out in Supermoto. Chris Fillmore is going to be there soon. Cassidy Anderson and Brandon Curry are two guys on the rise and from the older guys club, Mark Burkhart is already there and he is just awesome smooth and fast to watch. Mark and Doug make a great team.
If you have not seen a Supermoto race, this is a kick ass race series! If you like seeing riders performing tire smoking back-in's at high speed, Supercross style jumps and dirt sections ridden on, well basically slick tires. If you are a die hard motorcycle race fan, get out and see one. You won't regret it!
