Brandon Currie won his second straight AMA Supermoto Lites race and Mark Burkhart finished second in the Supermoto class in Hartford, Conn. on Saturday night, Aug. 9. Better still, the Graves Motorsports teammates left Doug Henry’s New England Supermoto Grand Prix with the points leads in their respective classes – Currie up by six points in Lites and Burkhart ahead by two in the premier Supermoto class – as the six-round 2008 season gathers steam. Adding to the story for Yamaha was former Graves teammate Henry, who stepped into the role of Supermoto race promoter for the first time.
Supermoto... Although still plenty sore from his X Games crash last week, Burkhart took second in his heat race in advance of the 18-lap Supermoto final. Playing it conservatively, he got to the first turn only in the top six, but then quickly settled into a rhythm on his YZ450F and began picking off rivals. The Yamaha rider moved up to second by the fourth lap and then maintained the position to take his podium finish behind Troy Herfoss. “My bike handles better than anybody’s in the dirt,” Burkhart noted afterwards. “It also has so much power going down the straight!” Team owner Chuck Graves added, “I think Mark had a real smart strategy by taking it easy this weekend – he got through it and scored some points, and now he can get healed up for the next race.”
| Supermoto |
| 1 |
Troy Herfoss |
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| 2 |
Mark Burkhart - YAM |
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| 3 |
Chris Fillmore |
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| 4 |
Robbie Horton |
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| 5 |
Micky Dymond |
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| Supermoto Standings |
| 1 |
Mark Burkhart - YAM |
47 |
| 2 |
Troy Herfoss |
45 |
| 3 |
Chris Fillmore |
38 |
| 4 |
Cassidy Anderson |
36 |
| 5 |
Benjamin Carlson |
30 |
|
Supermoto Lites... Fresh from his bronze-medal finish at X Games 14, the likable Currie started off the evening with a victory his Lites-class heat race aboard his YZ250F at Stafford Motor Speedway. Although he couldn’t quite manage the holeshot in the 14-lap main event, he still got away strongly in third, quickly moved to second and then chased early leader Matt Burton for three laps around the winding asphalt-and-dirt course before taking command of the race for good on lap four. “I made a block pass on him in the dirt section and once I had the lead I was able to hold onto it,” Currie explained. “My Yamaha ran strong all weekend and was predictable even though the track got slick at night.”
| Supermoto Lites |
| 1 |
Brandon Currie - YAM |
|
| 2 |
Matt Burton |
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| 3 |
Danny Casey |
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| 4 |
John Lewis |
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| 5 |
Matt Abbott |
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| 6 |
Robert Loire - YAM |
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| 7 |
Jamie Siever |
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| 8 |
Casey Yarrow - YAM |
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| 9 |
Kyle Jones |
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| 10 |
Andrew Hyder |
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|
|
| Supermoto Lites Standings |
| 1 |
Brandon Currie - YAM |
50 |
| 2 |
Matt Burton |
44 |
| 3 |
Danny Casey |
40 |
| 4 |
John Lewis |
36 |
| 5 |
Robert Loire - YAM |
30 |
| 6 |
Jamie Siever |
30 |
| 7 |
Casey Yarrow - YAM |
27 |
| 8 |
Matt Abbott |
27 |
| 9 |
Andrew Hyder |
23 |
| 10 |
Kyle Jones |
22 |
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