Lightning On The Wolf/Smec rd4

SMEC RD4

Butters: So we made the road trip out to Shawano Wisconsin for the 11th annual running of the Lightning on the wolf(LOTW) Supermoto race. The race has been a main stay on the SMEC schedule for years now. US Air Motorsports Raceway is probably the best Supermoto track in the USA. It was our best opportunity to get our ragtag crew of Supermoto junkies to a SMEC event this year. So myself, Johnny Bang, Simpy, a Simpy’s brother Zack loaded up for a week on the road and drove thru the night Wednesday 8/2 to get there late Thursday so we could spend all 3 days of the LOTW weekend at the track. It was epic

Simp: Bucket list track pretty much sums it up. Such a rad setting and the elevation change makes it feel like you’re riding a rollercoaster. This year we decided to tent camp at the track which turned out to be pretty sick. It was awesome being able to wake up at the track and not be pressed on time. It was a little hot and humid but I already can’t wait to go back.

Jbang: LOTW is my favorite on the circuit. Totally worth the 24 hour drive. The track is so mint, asphalt is super consistent and the dirt holds water and shapes up excellent. I have to give a huge shout out to SMEC race events, they always put on a very professional event, not to mention how good the finishline/flags/podium and all the little things that make the event look so damn sharp. RACE SMEC has a team of true professionals that come out and kill it.

Butters: I smashed the ground on Friday practice not as bad as Simpy but broke the visor on my new moto 10 lid so I was bumming because I knew my gorgeous helmet was going to look wack. I was fine though, our tire situation in the SMR pit was not. I was on some roached tires, alas that’s no surprise I’ve always been a cheap bastard when it comes to tires. Shane Narbonne like the true homie he is gave me a nice conditioned rear takeoff, but no front cause he runs a 16in front to my 16.5 wheel. Thats where JC came in Klutch like the true klutch industries teammate he is with the front takeoff. See what i did there…haha Support Klutch. I saved the takeoffs for Sunday to give myself the best rubber for the final. On Saturdays Race 1 I didn’t have anything for Shane or for Ty but I had enough speed to be third, with a fast lap of 1:49.0 . Sunday’s race 2 I dropped 3 second of my lap time to 1:46.1 and did my best to keep Shane honest for the long 15 lap moto. he would pull on the asphalt and I’d reel it back in the dirt, but he slowly got a gap of ultimately 5 second and controlled the race. I think Ty would have been in the battle had he not crashed in the 250 race HARD. he still pulled a 3rd over some very talented riders while hurting. Thanks to the Timmy V and Sketchballs for making the weekend even more enjoyable, Heal up quick Sketchballs. Thanks to the SMEC team for all the do for the community, My wife for making my dreams possible, Joe Agley RSR, Klutch, Toxic moto, Benny at bell, beringer, bret tausan, JBang, Simpy, Zack, Kevin, and all the people im probably forgetting right now. THANK YOU

Simp:I smashed the ground on Friday… Went out for practice and they were running a little behind on watering the track so it got pretty dusty. I Came around to the jump section and rolled up on a few slower riders that checked up for the double which kicked up a bunch of dust making the jump face impossible to see. I was pretty much at commit level so decided to hit the jump anyway…poor decision. Miss-timed the face and got bucked pretty hard over the bars. Ended up trying to land using my face which went about as good as you can expect. Somehow didn’t break anything so I was able to get up and race the rest of the weekend.

Jbang:

SMEC1 Open Pro

1 Shane Narbonne 1-1
109 Sean Butterman 3-2
727 Ty Fietzer 2-3
838 Tim Velasquez 4-4
80 Brady Tausan 5-5
324 Ryan Samp 7-6
144 Andrew Millier 6-7
60 Carl Soltisz 8-8
817 William Wildner 9-9
151 JC Bernier 10-10
296 Mitchell Thomson 11-DNS
479 Michael Eller DNS-11(dnf) Poor sketchy

insane Shane with the dub
photo: klings media

SMEC1 250

929 Charlie Buffum 1-1
728 Steve Ingram 4-2
66 Sam Lakas 5-3
266 Brandon Kinsey 6-4
727 Ty Fietzer 2-dnf :(
479 Michael Eller 3-dnf

Butters: Its cool to see Hayden figuring out how to go fast, and to beat the legend that is his father is cool. I felt bad for jbang between running around and filming we let the generator that johnnys tire warmers plugged into run out of fuel. He proceeded to holeshot on cold tires and end up on the ground.

Simp: Poor J Bang. Gnarly looking crash but took it like a champ and kept on trucking.

Jbang: I was so excited to qualify just off pole. Game plan was to go win or swing for second, I was sure I had it. I returned to staging after filming 250’s to find the generator out of gas and cold tires. I led the group to the back straight where I didn’t have the stopping power I needed(they all went by) I tried to push back entering the dirt I went wide hoping the crowd would bottle up, Still with cold tires I blew off the track ended up in some tire track barriers smashing my hand and breaking my thumb, finished both motos but couldn’t ride at pace. #squidlife

SMEC2 Amatuer

69 Hayden Burge 2-1
740 Jeisen Soto Chacon 1-4
120 Matt Burge 3-3
91 Ty Haas 6-2
220 Justus Donatelli 5-6
97 Cody Keller 4-11
87 David Guertin 8-8
292 Johnny Bang 10-7
16 Tim Anway 7-10
28 Andrew Haas 9-9
101 Seth Dahmer DNS-5

Son beats father, Matt burge is a legend hayden looks to be following in his foot steps
photo: klings media

Simpy: I talked my cousin Kevin into coming out and trying Supermoto for the first time. It was awesome watching him start to figure it out and pick up speed. Stoked he was able to have hist first Sumo race at the best track ever too.

SMEC3 Novice/beginner

305 Andres Betancourt 1-1
115 Jeremy Bjorkman 2-2
151 Matthew Otto 3-3
470 Nathan Peter 4-5
41 Kevin Reynolds 9-4
51 Jake Randolph 6-6
83 John Barnes 5-7
52 Parke Wagner 7-8
167 Zach Otto 8-DNS

I gotta say it #305 should not be in SMEC3 class he is to fast
photo: klings media

SMEC5 / VET

120 Matt Burge 1-1
454 Jeremy Sargent 2-2
496 Joshua Keifer 3-3

I cant wait to race the best class aka the vet class
photo: klings media

MOTARD CUP / expert ASSphalt

31 Hank Vossberg 1-1
71 Nathan Baeyens 3-2
60 Carl Soltisz 2-3
15 Hayden Diedrich 4-4
101 Seth Dahmer 5-5
144 Andrew Millier 6-8
12 Tom Benedict 10-6
97 Cody Keller 11-7
801 Anthony Barco 9-10
86 Shawn Sheely 14-9
92 Vinne Studt 7-dnf
479 Michael Eller 8-
305 Andres Betancourt 0-11
68 Nick Uselmann 12-0
16 Tim Anway 13-
63 Mark Toso 15-
470 Nathan Peter 16-0

expert asphalt super carl, Baeyens and Vossberg
photo: klings media

pHOTos

Save some style for the rest of us Shane… So hot
photo: klings media

what came first the chicken or the egg?
photo: Jessica Sargent

Brady Tausan and Timmy V were in seperable on the track both pro motos
photo: Jessica Sargent

Hank Vossberg is young like 13-15 i think and he rides a 450 with the same amount of (dis)respect as Shane Narbonne…. epic

Sketchballs with the sweet style in the dirt, he doesnt even look sketchy in this shot wtf
photo: Jessica Sargent

Super carl had to wheelie across the finish line even though the battle with Nathan Baeyens was on. Proper
photo: Jessica Sargent

Ty Fietzer gets better everytime I see him, a bad crash in 250 moto 2 hampered his results on the weekend
photo: Jessica Sargent

Andrew Millier Leads the Smec1 open points standings, i had not heard of him til this year but its cool to see new blood in the series
photo: Jessica Sargent

Charlie Buffum manualing the rollers on his way to victory
photo: Jessica Sargent

Timmy V airing out the wall jump probably to flat cause he is scared of landings
photo: Jessica Sargent

Hayden Diedrich with a pretty bike and good style
photo: Jessica Sargent

buddy race explanations/confusions
photo: Jessica Sargent

this is supermoto
photo: Jessica Sargent

Kevin Reynolds made the trek to Shawano to try supermoto for the first time ever. he was on SMR “cross platform program” where we got a set of warp 9 wheels for someone to use so if you now anyone with a yamaha that wants to try supermoto with some hot boi gold wheels get at us
photo: Jessica Sargent

Hank Vossberg is something. Im not normally impressed by people in the asphalt only class but this young kid absolutely handed it to everyone in the asphalt only classes that had current pro road racers in them. beyond impressed with him
photo: Jessica Sargent

“you’re doing a job” -Fred
photo: Jessica Sargent

I hope you all enjoyed taking a look SMEC round 4/LOTW 2023. Click on the links within the photos to discover more. A big thank you goes out to Klings Media and Jessica Sargent for sharing their incredible work with us.

-til next time SMR dorks out