North American Supermoto Shootout
Mother Nature tried to beat us… could not
The first inaugural North American Supermoto Shootout took place in Norman, Oklahoma, just south of Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma Motorsports Complex, OMC.
JBANG: Finally a big shoot out! After loosing Stateline-Anthony Heart Memorial last year we did not think we would see a shoot out. Well we have one now! A very healthy field of SM pilots showed up and put on a show. My first impressions of the track were nothing but positives. I love the tight kart track vibe. Dirt was turning out to be perfection, but weather was on the way.
Butters: There was rain the weekdays leading up but Friday we were able to practice in beautiful conditions and ride with the tackiest dirt. Saturday we barely got started when the rain came. Funny enough, the last time I was at this track was in 2012, and what is very similar is that we had a good practice day and then race day was rainy and gnarly. It is pretty crazy to have it be 11 years apart and experience the same conditions just about. It’s really unfortunate because the weekend before and the week after the weather in Norman was beautiful, so it was really bummer for the organizers and all the NASS staff to have to deal with it.
SIMP: I was looking forward to this event for awhile. After seeing all the work Jay and his crew put into the event I knew it was going to be rad. Friday ended up being the best day, the rain cooperated and we were able to run the dirt section. After a few laps of going through the dirt section the dirt got tacky and we were able to absolutely rip through it! It was such an awesome time being able to turn laps with the boys on an awesome track.
Butters: Aside from the weather, this was the event I was looking forward to the most this year, well, other than SMoN. I really think it is a cool idea to have a big event for Supermoto in America that utilized state, regional, and even Canadian Supermoto clubs around North America to qualify for the shootout. There was an eastern qualifier held in New York in conjunction with a SMEC race, a western qualifier in conjunction with Cascadia Supermoto in Oregon, two central qualifiers first one was in Colorado with Colorado Supermoto and the second was in Wisconsin during the annual Lightning On The Wolf event. As well as a Canadian qualifier through Supermoto Québec. If you were not able to make it to a qualifying race you could even submit for a golden ticket to come race the shootout.
I really look forward to this event growing in the coming years. I love that it supports the state and regional clubs because they are the lifeblood of supermoto. I hope it entices all racers to participate be that Pro’s, current or retired, amateurs, beginners, Vets, and kids all have a place at this badass Event.
1st: Nathan Baeyens 2nd: Donny Torweihe 3rd: Yan Boursier
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
NASS Amatuer
71 Nathan Baeyens 1-1
404 Donny Torweihe 3-2
22 Yan Boursier 2-3
87 David Guertin 4-4
252 Christopher Anderson 5-5
217 Jordan Jones 6-6
217x Liz Penney 7-7
JBANG: Rain Dampened my program dramatically, I hit the floor a few too many times and decided to stay off the bike. Showing up on used rains is never the move! I decided to help the NASS Broadcast team and got to see the magic behind the live stream.
Butters: Donny is one of our boys from Colorado and he made the trip to OMC had never raced in the rain and he killed it. Our guys Jbang had some crashes and lingering injuries that saw him go from racer to livestream producer. Can’t say I was surprised to see Baeyans take the win as he has really good speed on the asphalt. Major standouts missing from the results are the father son duo of Matt and Hayden Burge. Matt used his veteran savvy and choose the sidelines while Hayden proved fast in the tricky conditions but a fall in Asphalt class ended the fast youngster weekend.
1st: Andrew Millier 2nd: Anthony Franco 3rd: Nathan Baeyens
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
NASS ASSphalt
144 Andrew Millier 1-3
312 Anthony Franco 2-2
71 Nathan Baeyens 6-1
24 Michael Michaud 3-4
9 Dimitri Godard 5-5
227 Nelson Jr. Morean 4-7
22 Yan Boursier 9-6
88 Jacob Randall 8-8
403 Kevin Kotliaroff 10-9
122 Ken Armstrong 7-dns
12 Renee Franco dnf-dns
69 Hayden Burge dnf-dns
Butters: this was a wild class to watch. Millier had a huge get off in Open Pro heat 2 that we all thought ended his weekend. Typical pro got up kept racing and even took the victory in the asphalt class over the northeastern OG of Franco. Another noteable mention was Franco’s Daughter Renee, another casualty of the cold wet conditions. she was quite fast on friday we all rode the open practice.
1st: Anthony Franco 2nd: Michael Michaud 3rd: JC Bernier
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
NASS Vet (30+)
312 Anthony Franco 1-1
24 Michael Michaud 2-2
151 JC Bernier 4-3
9 Dimitri Godard 3-4
227 Nelson Jr. Morean 5-6
22 Yan Boursier 7-5
88 Jacob Randall 8-7
775 Andy Gautschi 10-8
66 Sam Lakas 9-10
403 Kevin Kotliaroff 11-9
122 Ken Armstrong 6-dns
298 Sergio Di Molfetta dnf-dns
Butters: Franco and Michaud really ran away in the vet class
Eli Engstrom overcame a motor failure and had to ride a different motorcycle in these tricky conditions. While Israel Cavazos managed the track on dot tires. Impressive
NASS futures
28 Eli Engstrom
633 Israel "IJ" Cavazos
1st: Charlie Buffum 2nd: Jake Randall 3rd: Sergio Di Molfetta
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
NASS Pro Lites
929 Charlie Buffum 1-1
764 Jacob Randall 2-3
298 Sergio Di Molfetta 3-4
324 Ryan Samp 6-2
66 Sam Lakas 4-5
266 Brandon Kinsey 7-6
728 Steve Ingram 5-dns
Butters: Earlier this year Simpy had earned his first AMA Supermoto victory in the rain, so I think we all had high hopes for our simpster. Maybe he could give the unstoppable Buffdaddy a run.
Simpy: With rain forecasted for the Saturday and Sunday Motos I was hoping I would be able to
Butters: Unfortunately for him moto 1 with an old rain front on saw you hit the ground twice on lap one and only make it back to sixth.
Simpy: After having a horrific first lap I just settled into safe pace and tried to finish out the moto without hitting the asphalt again. I ended up getting lapped by Charlie which wasn’t the best feeling in the world.
Butters: For Sunday’s frigid second moto you got a fresh front and drop your lap time from a 1:04.4 to a 59.6. Ridiculous.
Simpy: I didn’t really have a choice after moto 1 so I ended up getting a fresh front on for moto 2 (Thanks butter) This made a giant difference! I was able to keep Charlie in sight for the whole second moto. I wasn’t able to get close enough to try and make a pass but it was a significant improvement over moto 1. unfortunately I lost out on getting an overall podium because of how poor moto 1 was. I’m definitely bummed I wasn’t able to get a podium at the first NASS event but I’m always glad to see Charlie do good, he’s a ripper and deserved the #1 this year. I left a lot of room for improvement for next year and I’m already looking forward to the opportunity to get a overall win at the North American Supermoto Shootout.
Butters: Jake Randall seemed to be in every class possible and rode SM granny’s sweet 250f to second on the podium, Sergio with third, and Buffdaddy took home the first ever NASS pro lites victory
1st: Jake LaForge 2nd: Shane Narbonne 3rd: Sean Butterman
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
NASS Pro Open
17 Jake Laforge 1-2
64 Shane Narbonne 3-1
109 Sean Butterman 2-3
838 Tim Velasquez 5-4
144 Andrew Millier 4-5
33 Dawson Schieffer 7-6
151 JC Bernier 8-7
324 Ryan Samp 10-8
88 Jacob Randall 9-10
227 Nelson Jr. Morean 11-9
103 Kevin Kotliaroff 12-9
80 Brady Tausan 6-dnf
55 Koy Baker dnf-12
424 Josh Jackson dns-dns
Butters: Man, where do I start? So, I saw there was a heavy chance of rain, yet I did nothing to prepare. I just thought, hell yeah, a rain race would be so fun. It was; I just should have brought some waterproof jackets/ponchos, some extra gloves, and maybe some warmer clothes (luckily, my buddies from South Dakota helped me out with extra gear. Thank you, Bret and Pat).
On Friday, we got to ride the dirt section toward the end of the day once it dried enough. It was cool to see the efforts the NASS/SMEC group put into this race. For instance, they got ol' Monte Frank out to build us a sweet dirt section with an alternate layout for the pro classes that included a big triple jump. Add in the Livestream with commentary from some of Oklahoma's finest SM racers, Kenny Troxell and Travin Wiley. Then, the aesthetics of the banners, flags, finish line structure, and podium structure all made it feel so cool. I really like the premise of this race to be a shootout that pulls riders from all over North America to compete.
My first stop on Saturday was to the ever-busy Toxic Moto trackside support for some fresh rain tires. I was in heat 1 for open pro after qualifying 3rd in time practice. My heat had one of my favorite supermoto homies in it, the number 17 of Jake Laforge. We spent a couple of years as teammates under the mighty RSR rig, and it had been 2 years since I had got to ride with Jake since his injury at Tucson in 2021. He holeshot the heat and set a mean pace. Midway through the heat race, the skies opened up, and it dumped down rain. At this point, we still were running the very short abbreviated dirt section. I was trying to keep pace but was falling back slightly, so I pushed. The thing about the rain was you couldn't push, so I lowsided, fell back to 4th, and almost caught back up to my guy Dawson Schieffer by the end. I was soaked and a bit mad at myself for falling.
With the weather forecast showing even lower temps and more rain Sunday, the organizers powered through the schedule to fit the first motos in on Saturday. Moto 1 started with a bang when Shane Narbonne stalled on the launch (luckily no one collided with him). Millier almost tucked the front going into turn 1 right next to me. Going into turn 2, Laforge almost tosses it (to be fair, for the racers that were in heat 1, it was the first time we entered turn two without hitting a dirt section before it), and I'm like, "What is going on?" I did my best to keep Jake honest, but he slowly got a 2-second gap over me, and Shane came from the back of the pack to 3rd, setting the fastest lap of the race. The freshly crowned SMEC champion Miller rebounded from the brutal crash in his heat race to finish 4th in front of Colorado’s winningest racer, Timmy V, in 5th.
Sunday was cold. During the riders' meeting, it seemed like the rain was turning into snow. It was kind of windy, and it was 40 degrees out and only getting colder. We got our bikes on the warmers, and I skipped practice to just go out for the final moto. Moto 2, I was able to beat Shane to turn one, but Jake was 3 for 3 on holeshots. I tried the first couple of laps to get a wheel on Jake, but the more I pushed, the slower I went. Before long, I had Shane breathing down my back. He made a nice pass on me, and he set after Jake. I failed to gather myself back into a calm pace and finished about 7 seconds back at the checkered. Shane got the moto win, but Jake really only had to beat me for the overall. It was awesome to share the podium with those two. Shane and I have been friends and on and off teammates for almost a decade now. Jake is such a humble and talented racer; I was happy to see him win, especially since it's been a couple of years off of racing.
JBANG: Jake Laforge is A BAD MUTHA! after being off the bike injured to come back with that speed is insane. Fastest man on the track has to go to Shane, with a poor launch on moto 1 set him up for a tough weekend. But it was sure fun to watch him cut through the pack. I think with a few tweaks the live stream might be the move for NASS and SMEC. But I’m Bias to the moto cast. Vid Below.
Hope to see you all at next years North American Supermoto Shootout! huge thank you to Chris at Chain Reaction photograthy for braving these conditions with his equipment and providing us with photos from the Event. below are some of our favorite photos he captured.
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facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChainReactionPhotographer
instagram: Chain Reaction Photography (@chainreactionphotographer) | Instagram profile
Unique and gorgeous trophies for the Pro Class Victors
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
Laforge reminding everyone that he is still the tip of the spear in american supermoto
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
Josh Jackson 424 used a golden ticket to come down from Alaska race his first supermoto event in 6 years.
Sadly, the dirt section, being clay, quickly became a no go, we ran half of Saturday with a short cut through the dirt before more rain made that too dangerous to continue to use. Andrew Millier demonstrates.
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
227 Nelson Jr. Morean leads the vet class into turn 1
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
Sergio “ugly” Di Molfetta wasn’t the only rider to crash, in fact I’d be surprised if there was a rider that didn’t fall at least once on the weekend.
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
SMR’s Simping Samp looking dirty
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
66 Sam Lakas being like a kid and splashing around
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
Nobody has a more professional program than Shane Narbonne, a true professional.
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
it was awesome to see the canadian represent at the innaugual NASS event. rider: 9 Dimitri Godard
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
Butterman and Timmy V= Best friends forever
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
22 Yan Boursier. such a cool shot, look at how the spokes pop
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
929 Charlie Buffum Bro lites champion of everything
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
87 David Guertin. did you canadians bring this wheather with you?
photo: Chain Reaction Photography
Lightning On The Wolf/Smec rd4
Narbonne leads the pack to victory. Vossberg Superior in super performance over super carl
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.
photo: klings media
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
Bro lites podium
photo: klings media
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
more links
Klings media: k.media | Twitter, Instagram, TikTok | Linktree
Jessica Sargent: smugmug glsm fb page