The week of August 9th racked up miles on the odometer for AMA Supermoto participants, as racers and crews scurried across the country to compete first in Sturgis, South Dakota then in Shawano, Wisconsin just a few days later.
Round 2: Sturgis
The mid-week race during the historic 82nd Sturgis Motorcycle Rally presented riders with a unique challenge: an all-dirt track at the Jackpine Gypsies facility, which is home to an abundance of off-road racing activities in western South Dakota.
The dirt-only event also meant a change from the standard grid-style race starting procedure to a traditional motocross gate drop, a menacing challenge for slick tires. Looking for that extra bit of traction, many riders opted for rain slicks, allowing the grooved tires to bite what little bit of soil they could.
World Champion, Lukas Hollbacher, made the journey from Europe to defend his points-lead in the 2022 championship where he swept the event by winning both Open Pro races aboard his MTR KTM 450SMR. The podium was rounded out by a pair of Husqvarnas piloted by Josh McClean in 2nd, and Nicky Reimer in 3rd.
The Pro Lites class saw Josh McClean grab the overall victory, followed by Charlie Buffum and Austin Pecoraro respectively. Several of the riders in this class were pulling double-duty and competing in the Open Pro event as well, hats off to these hard-chargers fighting in the summer heat!
Round 3: Shawano
After a quick tear-down in Sturgis, competitors made their way East to USAIR Motorsports Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin for arguably one of the most invigorating Supermoto tracks in the country. This weekend marked the 10th annual race for the Lightning on the Wolf event. This event was hosted and run by the premiere Supermoto series on the East Coast, SMEC, in association with AMA Supermoto.
The weekend was dealt with severe rain delay, but the track crews went above and beyond to turn the event around and the off-road section ended up in near-premium condition.
Back to the traditional Supermoto track set-up, racers were eager to put rubber to asphalt and go toe-to-toe with Lukas Hoellbacher. As the races started, it was Hoellbacher who jumped to an early lead, but the incredibly fast Shane Narbonne did his best to keep Lukas in his sights. Pushing hard to the very end, it was Hoellbacher with the overall win, Narbonne in a solid second position on his Six-Four Motorsports Honda, and the talented Nicky Reimer rounding out the podium.
Reimer has been spending time in Europe training, while learning the methods of current World Supermoto Championship competitors. These new skills proved worthwhile as he picked up important championship points between the two events. He was also seen competing at this event with a brand-new test tire from Dunlop. It’s nice to see active interest from multiple tire manufacturers in this sport as it continues to grow with grass-roots efforts across the country.
Round 4 of the 2022 AMA Supermoto series is set for Nov. 11-13 at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tuscon, Arizona. See you there!
For more information on the AMA and SMEC Supermoto series, check out their links below!
https://drtracinginc.com/blogs/news/ama-supermoto
Ryan Yearwood is the motorsports correspondent for SoBros Network as well as the pioneer and visionary behind SoBros Outdoors. Follow on Twitter: @OutdoorSoBro.
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