November 11th, 2006

K.Nicoll - 2 DNFs and 1 Podium

It was a tough day for KTM’s iron man Kurt Nicoll. He raced in two Supermoto races and the Unlimited race. In both of the Supermoto races Nicoll crashed out but was still smiling at the end of the day. Why? Because he flanked Benny Carlson on his way to the AMA Supermoto Unlimited Championship. He made sure that the Husqvarna ace David Baffeleuf of Cournon D Avuergne, France (aka ICE MAN) didn’t slip by and steal the championship.

Dymond, Calrson and Nicoll

Nicoll (8) Runs Interference For Benny Carlson (45) in Supermoto Unlimited

AMA Supermoto 450 Championship

The 2006 championship run for Nicoll was quite respectable. As the head of all KTM Racing for North America, he did not have much time to spend practicing between rounds. Even so, Nicoll pressed hard throughout the series and was very happy about his outcome and the Unlimited Championship.

Kurt Nicoll Takes 7th Overall

(1) - 429 J. Ward - Honda
(2) - 393 D. Henry - Yamaha
(3) - 356 C. Fillmore - Honda
(4) - 310 M. Burkhart - Yamaha
(5) - 310 J. Kunzel - KTM
(6) - 257 T. Herfoss - Husky
(7) - 242 K. Nicoll - KTM

From The Jeff Ward Files Ward won the 2006 Supermoto Championship and promised that he’ll be back to defend his crown in ’07 but admitted that his time running at the front might not last all that much longer.

I’ll be here with Troy Lee I’m sure and just try to go one more season. It’s getting a little tougher. It’s tough to stay in shape and not get sick and keep my training program going up and not going down. At my age it’s easy to over-train and burn out. I did that before the X-Games a couple years ago. I trained super hard in the heat and I could never recoup. Now it’s harder to do. It’s difficult to find that correct balance and at some point it’s not going to happen. I’m just not going to be strong enough to win and that’s when you get hurt — when you’re pushing and you’re not strong enough and you still want to be up front.
- Jeff Ward, 2006 Supermoto Champion