WOW, WHAT A WEEKEND, COSTELLA TAKES HIS FIRST 450 CAREER VICTORY

In true Las Vegas fashion, there was a lot going on in the city that never sleeps. The largest cash of the weekend went to local Vegas rider Derek Costella, who nabbed his first career XTRM AMA Supermoto main event victory.

Winning and racing elite events is nothing new to this young lad and this recent accomplishment only adds to his record. Other credits include several Mini Moto titles as well as making multiple 250 West Coast supercross main events in 2009.

Being a hometown event may have added to his eagerness to race nose to tail with the likes of Mark Burkhart, Brandon Currie and Jeff Ward to name a few. At the end of the day Costella didn’t need any extra encouragement, he had the field covered.

Complete, official results at XTRM.com

The South Point Casino Adventure

The South Point event marked round three of both the XTRM AMA Pro Racing Supermoto Championship as well as the AMA Racing XTRM Amateur Championship. As always, the amateurs took to the track on Saturday and the pros took over for the big show on Sunday.

This was an awesome event and the most unique this far in the road to the championship. The track layout meandered through the back side of the casino on the tarmac before racers made their way into the stadium to battle the off-road section. This was the first event of its kind which included indoor and outdoor racing. Another first for the series was the indoor dirt start inside the stadium.

450/Premier Main

As usual, early in timed qualifying, it appeared as if Team Monster Energy Burkhart Racing KTM rider Mark Burkhart would be the man to beat. Then a surprise hit the boards around the sixth lap when Costella’s Monster-backed Carter Powersports All Access Honda bested the field by nearly four tenths. From that moment everyone knew the 450 main event was headed for excitement.

In the main, Costella was again the victor exiting the first turn in the dirt start with the likes of CHM Exhaust riders Micky Dymond and Sylvain Bidart, TLD’s Red Bull Honda of Jeff Ward and then Burkhart.

Burkhart and Currie had their own issues during the day but both riders had the speed to possibly win the event. First Burkhart, who made his way up to third at one point, slid out and had trouble getting his bike re-fired and he eventually finished seventh. Later in the race a hard charging Currie in third was all over Dymond when he went down going for a tight inside pass on the pavement. Currie would end up recovering to take eighth.

This wasn’t the only drama during the 450 race. Early in the race, leader Costella, caught a tough block and bent his brake lever around under his footpeg. Costella desperately kicked the lever while riding and gave up the lead to Dymond. After several attempts while riding with no rear brake, Costella was able to bend the lever back enough to use it.

Dymond, who was in the driver’s seat to take his second career 450 supermoto main, wasn’t able to fend off the second charge of Costella late in the race. Dymond fell into the second spot and survived a late race charge from Ward, who was still nursing a broken foot from several weeks before. Rounding out the top four included Bidart.

With the mistake of Burkhart, Ward is again in the point lead for the championship with two rounds to go in the series.

250/Lites

After struggling at Infineon because of a rear brake problem, Matt Burton was on a mission to feel the glory he enjoyed after winning the opening round at Fontana.

Burton, aboard an RJ MDK-backed KTM took the early lead and pretty much took command of the entire main event. TLD Red Bull Honda’s Brandon Ward and Jacob Lehmann tangled at the start and both went down.

While out front with a sizeable lead, Burton almost tossed the sure thing into the trash while entering the whoop-filled stadium entrance. The whoops entrance was very dark as the riders came in from being out in the sunlight. He got out of shape on one of the last whoops but managed to save it after bouncing off the wall entering the stadium.

The entire race was very tight and there were riders all over the place. Yamaha-mounted Cody Bastian was on fire at the Point and rode most of the race in second place before a mistake in the dirt let Mach 1 Motorsport’s Danny Casey nab the runner-up position with a little over a lap to go in the race. BP Racing’s Casey Yarrow nailed down fourth while Cameron Welsh raced his way to fifth after a marginal start.

Unlimited

The Unlimited class was by far the most chaotic of the day. The start of the first main event had defending champion Steve Drew jumping the start and was forced to come in for a stop-and-go penalty. Then at the tail end of lap three, Factory Highland’s Martin Lind who was in third crashed hard through the whoops and then a split second later, while running second, Johnny Lewis slid out in a berm twisting his knee. This brought out the red flag with Lind having his shoulder treated and Lewis being helped off the track. At the time of the red flag, KTM’s Kurt Nicoll was leading the race.

The race was restarted minus Lewis and Lind and the total laps of the race were cut to nine instead of 12. On the restart, Nicoll again took the early lead, Drew went down at the dirt start but was on a mad charge and made his way to third before a second red flag went off when Craig Peyron slid out through a fast sweeper on the pavement.

At that point an AMA official ended up calling the race because it had gone six laps. Steve Drew was not happy with the call after having troubles during both starts. Jamie Siever, who made his first appearance in 2009 finished second aboard a KTM 505.

Next Events

The next point-paying XTRM AMA Pro Racing Supermoto Championship round will take place at Miller Motosports Park in Tooele, Utah on September 6th. The AMA Racing XTRM Amateur Championship will head to Willow Springs in California June 21st.

And remember that the top riders from the XTRM AMA Pro series in the 450, 250 and Unlimited also qualified to race in the X Games on August 1.