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by Chris Martin

Even with months of hype preceding it, the AMA Red Bull Supermoto A-Go-Go at the Rio in Las Vegas far exceeded expectations in terms of sheer drama and excitement. Following 14 of the most nail-biting supermoto laps yet witnessed in the United States, Honda Racing's Ben Bostrom was crowned the first-ever AMA Supermoto king.

• Las Vegas Supermoto Photo Gallery

While most of the pre-event predictions sided with the World Supermoto aces or the former motocrossers who had dominated the regular season, Bostrom shocked the large crowd and live television audience with a stunning charge up from outside the top five to the top of the podium.

The 29-year-old hometown favorite repeatedly utilized his trademark late-braking talents around the faster sections of the Vegas circuit to dice up the field. He also proved just strong enough in the dirt to fend off the counterattacks of the likes of Jeff Ward and Doug Henry.

It was obvious the event would be a wild one from the beginning; the world's current number two and three, Boris Chambon and Jürgen Künzel, crashed out of victory contention on laps 2 and 3, respectively. The Red Bull KTM HMC teammates were again among the very quickest men in attendance -- German Künzel especially, who set pole by a wide margin -- but in the end were sent home without a win on American soil in '03.

Another European, Alexandre Thiebault, was the surprise early leader. The CHM Exhaust McAllister Motorsports Honda pilot leapt into the lead on the opening lap and held the position over the next 10 laps. The Frenchman frustrated second-placed Ward the entire time he was leading, as the Troy Lee Designs Honda was desperate to get out front and attempt a breakaway.

While Ward and Thiebault disputed the lead, Team Motodynamics Tuluie Yamaha man Henry, KTM racing boss Kurt Nicoll, and Bostrom closed in to turn the tussle for first into a five-man affair.

42-year-old Ward finally took control of the race on lap 10, but by that time Bostrom had moved right onto his tail. Two laps later, the 1998 AMA Superbike champ made a pass on the brakes into first at the end of the high-speed backstraight. Ward immediately retaliated with a nifty maneuver in the dirt, but was soon displaced by Bostrom once again entering a hard braking corner.

Irwindale winner Henry then stepped into the battle, shoving past Ward with just three laps remaining. He followed that up with a challenge for the lead in the dirt on the penultimate lap, but ran wide, providing Bostrom with just the amount of room necessary to sail home first to the flag.

Afterward, an exuberant Bostrom spoke of his championship victory. "(Henry and Ward) rode incredibly and that really boosted us up there. I know my lap times didn't come until the main chasing these guys down. They're definitely the cream of the crop. It's just good to see a road race guy sitting up because the motocrossers have been taking advantage of us all year. Every dog has its day, and here we are.

"The road race sections were my sections. In all the hard braking corners we were kind of catching back up. They were getting us there in the dirt a little. I knew we had to overcompensate in the road race sections so I looked forward to those parts every lap.

"We actually had a good race. Jeff hit me once and I came back and hit into him. I think he was kind of upset because he thought he could get up front and run away, but there was another rider (Thiebault) kind of messing with him. And they were racing and it allowed me to catch up. And once you're in the hot seat in the back you are the tiger. So, we pounced."

Henry held on to be named championship runner-up, while three-time '03 winner Ward grabbed the final spot on the podium. Nicoll earned fourth, with Thiebault rounding out the top five.

"It was a really awesome race," multi-time AMA Motocross champ Henry remarked. "I wish I could have won it, but it was just a great battle. There were some passes back and forth there, and I had a great ride. This is a great series, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone out here next year."

Ward said of his third-placed effort, "I tried to get by Thiebault as quick as possible but he was going fast, and I then just started making a lot of mistakes. Then those guys were pushing me so hard I kept overshooting the corners. It was a tough race. Ben was unbelievable. I didn't expect him to ride that fast. He definitely outdid us today."

Künzel remounted after his lap 3 crash and fought up from dead last to take a remarkable sixth, one spot in front of Ward's teammate, Jeremy McGrath. KTM's Larry Pegram, Pacifico Saunders Suzuki's Mark Avard, and Moroney's Johnson Honda's Jake Johnson completed the championship top 10.

KTM Supermoto Unlimited

In only his third go at supermoto-style competition, South African Grant Langston was named the Supermoto Unlimited Champion. The 2000 World 125 Motocross Champ stalked 18-year-old Ben Carlson over the race's first five laps before making his move into the lead.

The young Wisconsin native tried to respond as the two drove into the dirt's banked Turn 13 entrance alongside each other, but was slammed up high by a ruthless maneuver by Langston.

The clash opened up a bit of gap for Langston, who then put his head down to run to the flag with a reasonably comfortable margin of victory.

"I never would have expected this," Langston commented after being crowned champion. "I really enjoy racing supermotard, and it's a lot of fun for me. I was a little cautious the first couple of laps, and I sat behind Ben for a while. I learned where he was quicker than me, and I picked up on his lines. I also saw where I was a little quicker than him, and I made my pass and made it stick.

"We came into that bowl turn side-by-side, and I had the inside. It's one of those things where there is not a lot you can do -- you have to rail around that berm. He saw me coming and backed off at the last second and I came through."

Carlson's then turned his attention to fending off two of his other Red Bull KTM HMC teammates, Kurt Nicoll and Joe Kopp. Nicoll in particular was applying intense pressure. Starting from the top spot on the grid, the British rider overshot the race's first corner, dropping from the lead to well outside the top 10. He ripped his way back into a podium position and for a brief moment slipped into second, but a minor bobble allowed Carlson back into the spot, which he then held to the finish.

Nicoll went on to claim third, with Kopp fourth and World Supermoto standout Gerald DeLepine fifth.

Honda Red Riders Jr. Supermoto Challenge

15-year-old Mike Alessi from Apple Valley, CA took a dominating, wire-to-wire win in the Jr. Supermoto Challenge to be named the first champion of the class designed to allow 12-to-15 year-old up-and-comers to showcase their skills on identically prepped machinery.

Alessi, who won at the Laguna Seca series opener to qualify for Vegas, was challenged early by John Lewis, who tumbled trying to match Alessi's blistering pace. Once Lewis' challenge for the lead fell apart, Alessi put in a smooth, heady ride to take the championship with ease.

Afterwards, Alessi (who broke his collarbone just a week before the Vegas finale) said, "I'm just loving the sport of supermoto, and that helped me get out here and do it."

Notes

• The inaugural AMA Red Bull Supermoto season went out in style, set in the swank surroundings of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, just off of the Vegas strip. The main events were run in the evening, with the track glowing under the neon lights of the city.
  
  

• The 21-turn, .9-mile circuit designed for the Vegas finale drew rave reviews from the participants. Some of the highlights of the lengthy layout were several high-speed sections allowing for dramatic, sideways corner entrances, a steeply banked U-turn entrance into the dirt section, and two 'urban cross' pavement ramp sections -- the first of which was a smaller, high-speed jump on one of the straights, and the second consisting of a metal ramp immediately followed by a mountainous metal step-up double jump.
  
  World Supermoto star Boris Chambon, who also rode the South Boston and Dallas circuits, said the Vegas layout was the most European-flavored track he had seen in the States to date.
  
  

• While the previous AMA Supermoto main events were in the 20-lap range, the involved Vegas track took considerably longer to circulate than the layouts of previous rounds, resulting in 14-lap finals. This exact length was decided upon thanks to some quick math following the early practice sessions, the intent of which was to create race times that properly fit the live television broadcast window.
  
  

• KTM's top aces, Boris Chambon and Jürgen Künzel, withdrew from the KTM Supermoto Unlimited final in order to focus on the AMA Red Bull Supermoto main event. While it seemed like a wise move at the time (Chambon and Künzel both fell just short of victory in their previous AMA Supermoto visits partly due to fatigue), it unfortunately did not pay off as the two crashed early in the final.
  
  Still, while KTM suffered a disastrous championship result in the premier class, they swept the Unlimited podium even without their World Supermoto superstars competing.
  
  

• It might not have been so easy for KTM to grab the Unlimited podium sweep if World Supermoto frontrunner Gerald DeLepine had been at full strength, however. Even the appearance of DeLepine, a rider talented enough to top Chambon and Künzel in international competition on occasion, was a question mark in the days leading up to Vegas.

Word around the paddock was that the Belgian recently inked a deal with a rival manufacturer for the '04 season, leaving Vertemati unwilling to provide DeLepine with his top-flight equipment for the AMA finals. The US Vertemati importer stepped in and provided DeLepine with a bike, although it was somewhat of a lower spec than his usual World Supermoto machine.

• South Boston winner Doug Chandler was in attendance, but still on crutches and unable to ride at Vegas. Chandler spent his time tutoring Ben Carlson and his other young understudies on the Red Bull KTM HMC squad.
  
  "A couple more weeks, and I might have been able to ride," he said of his progress. "I think I'll be back next year... I hope to be. It's frustrating standing around and watching. I guess that means I still want to be out there doing it."
  
  

• Chandler's one-time Lucky Strike Suzuki Grand Prix teammate Kevin Schwantz was also a scratch from the main event. The former 500GP champ was in attendance and practicing in the morning, but suffered a possible hyper-extended knee early in the first session.
  
  

• With the AMA Pro Racing Awards Banquet a day after the Supermoto A-Go-Go, plenty of big names were in attendance, including new Ducati signee Eric Bostrom, Suzuki's Ben Spies (still limping but improving from his horrific Daytona test crash), and dirt track legend Chris Carr.
  
  

• The celebrity sightings didn't end with stars of the motorcycle world, however, as the Blue Man Group performed the national anthem in their own unique style.

Another non-motorcycling attraction was an exhibition by the Red Bull Air Force skydiving squad to open the ceremonies.

• Jürgen Künzel earned a custom Troy Lee designed Timex watch and the top spot on the grid by setting the fastest lap in Superpole. The German posted a 1:37.008 -- more than a second quicker than the rest of the field.
  
  

• Amazingly, Künzel's Superpole lap was not the fastest of the day. Ben Bostrom broke into the 1:36s (1:36.863) on lap 13 of 14 in the main event while desperately riding at the edge to hold off Doug Henry and Jeff Ward to win the championship. Actually, Bostrom was driven even harder by his own shadow, which he later admitted to mistaking as Henry or Ward trying to find a way past him.
  
  

• Mike Metzger pleased the crowd with some freestyle aerial acrobatics while running away with a semi-final victory. The Team Zoo York Honda rider, who took his first AMA Supermoto podium at Irwindale, claimed 15th on the season despite struggling with a wrist injury he aggravated in the morning practice.
  
  

• On Thursday, Metzger was schedule to be featured on a local network news affiliate in Vegas. The piece never came to be however, for minutes after the crew showed up to begin filming, they were called away to chase down Michael Jackson at the airport.
  
  

• After edging Grant Langston in a Supermoto Unlimited heat race, KTM racing boss Kurt Nicoll commented on battling with his subordinates. He laughed, "I noticed Grant was quicker than me in the dirt sections, but if he wasn't, I'd have be asking him a few questions."
  
  

• The trophies awarded the podium finishers in the AMA Red Bull Supermoto and Supermoto Unlimited classes were very cool gold, silver, and bronze helmets custom painted by Troy Lee Designs.

After getting a glimpse of the trophies prior to the main event, Ben Bostrom said he knew he had to win the championship, as he was wearing a unique, 1st place trophy-matching gold set of leathers for the finale.

• While Bostrom's gold Sheriff leathers were a bit out-there, his get-up was even stranger earlier in the day. Prior to the finals, Bostrom was sporting a mesh-trucker hat, complete with mullet and dual Red Bull cans (in the football fan, beer can hat arrangement) on top of his helmet.