Millville, NJ – The Moto Liberty/RS Taichi 250GP race got underway in the middle of a warm and humid 86-degree day with a grid of 17 racers. The pollen was so thick that many racers claimed to see yellow ‘rooster tails’ coming off the other competitors’ rear wheels. But amorous trees would not stop AMA regular, Barrett Long, who came from Miami to race his TZ against the best GP racers in the country. He qualified on pole with a 1:28.2; nearly three seconds faster than the next closest competitor, Ben Young. As the green flag flew, so did Mike Aboyoun from the second row. Aboyoun had a five-bike-length lead going into turn 1 and put his head down to try and break away early. Bruce Lind got a great start too, but apparently it was too good as he was later penalized with a “jump start”.
As the pack came around to complete the first lap, the order was Aboyoun, Long, Cassidy Heiser, Young and Bill Himmelsbach. Long was tired of following Aboyoun and made a clean pass into turn 1. Aboyoun tried hard to stick with Long and set lap times that were over 4 seconds faster than his qualifying times.
Unfortunately, his superb riding couldn’t match that of Long and he had to watch as Long continued to pull away ultimately winning by seven seconds over Aboyoun. Long also set a new 250GP track record lap time of 1:28.042. Heiser had a lonely but strong race, finishing third ahead of Ben Young and Bill Himmelsbach. The two racers were locked to each other, nose-to-tail the entire nine laps with Young just beating Himmelsbach to the line by less than half a second. Costa Rican, Leon Cortes rounded out the top six with a strong finish after starting from last place on the grid due to a lack of a qualifying time.
The Rev’it! sponsored Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race started right behind the 250GP event. Due to the grid size and difference in bike speeds, the race director decided to go with a single flag, single wave start. Eventual winner Stefano Meza was the only one that noticed this on the grid sheet, and took off as the other racers waited for a second before realizing what was going on. Max Flinders and Nick McFadden stayed close to each other at the first part of the race until they caught up with some of the 250’s and developed a gap between each other with McFadden eventually finishing second ahead of Flinders. Amazingly, Stefano Mesa finished the race not only winning his race, but actually would have finished in 7th in the 250GP race! That’s some testament to his riding and the racing competence of his Moriwaki race bike.
Nobi Iso propelled his Aprilia RS125 into turn 1 ahead of nearly 30 other GP bikes in the Pilot 125GP event. His teammate, Jake Lewis, tucked in behind him, and the two racers started to gap the field in a display of racing finesse that can only be described as inspired. Halfway through the 10-lap sprint, Lewis passed Iso for the lead, but couldn’t break away. On the penultimate lap, Iso made his move and seemed to have the race ‘in the bag’. But on the last lap, Lewis threw down a new 125GP lap record time of 1:28.70. He made a bold pass on Iso in the back section, and held on for his second win of the season. Team FOGI Racing’s, Nick Hansen, rode a solid race a few seconds back from the front-runners, and brought home his first podium finish of the season. Stefano Mesa turned in a great run as well, and claimed critical National Championship points for his 4th place finish.
One of the best races of the weekend was for 5th place as Barrett Long, Joe Roberts, and Erik Dadej went toe-to-toe-to-toe all race long. Long and Dadej brought many years of experience to bear on the battle, but young Roberts brought a superior power-to-weight ratio combined with some excellent riding skills. The three racers swapped position numerous times per lap, but in the end, Roberts rode his Celtic Racing Honda RS125 like a champion, and held off Dadej and Long.
In the Rising Sun Cycle / GPTech Moto3 race, Nick McFadden launched his hot-rod Moriwaki MD250H into the lead like he had JATO rockets strapped to his back! But he was quickly caught and overcome by the power of the Team Veloce Aprilias. Jake Lewis drew first blood, as he swept past McFadden’s 4-stroke. The Asian Peril, Nobi Iso, followed suit one lap later, and then continued on and passed Lewis for the lead. Iso was well on his way to his first victory of the season, but Lewis again was the fly in the ointment, and made a last lap draft pass across the finish line, besting Iso by less than a front wheel! In a deja -vu moment, Nick Hansen finished 3rd, creating an identical finishing order to the 125GP race.
Pilot 125GP race results 1. Jake Lewis (Apr) 2. Nobi Iso (Apr) 3. Nicholas Hansen (Hon) 4. Stefano Mesa (Hon) 5. Joe Roberts (Hon) 6. Erik Dadej (Hon) 7. Barrett Long (Yam) 8. Leon Cortes (Hon) 9. Nick McFadden (Mor) 10. Jeff Federici (Hon) 11. Max Flinders (Mor) 12. Xavier Zayat (Hon) 13. Aron Ahlstrom (Hon) 14. Scott Kolb (Hon) 15. Bob Rothrock (Hon) 16. Reet Das (Hon) 17. John Lemak (unk) 18. Federico Cortes (Hon) 19. Chris Cosentino (Hon) 20. Eric Frazier (unk) 21. John Long (Yam) 22. Vind Roman (unk) 23. E Orozco (unk) 24. Crystal Campagna (Hon) 25. Jordan Levitt (Hon) 26. Sharad Shanbhag (Hon) 27. Alisha Biagi (Hon) 28. Timothy Harrington (Hon)
Moto Liberty / RS Taichi 250GP race results 1. Barrett Long (Yam) 2. Mike Aboyoun (Hon) 3. Cassidy Heiser (Yam) 4. Ben Young (Yam) 5. Bill Himmelsbach (Yam) 6. Leon Cortes (Yam) 7. Jim Bonner (Yam) 8. Eric Moore (Yam) 9. Adrian Jasso (Yam) 10. Bruce Lind (Yam) 11. Jeff Pratt (Yam) 12. Bob Poetzsch (Yam) 13. Julio Zofiro (unk) 14. Jimmy Clark (Yam) 15. Michael Walsh (Yam) 16. Daniel Rios (Yam) 17. Eric Frazier (Yam)
Rev’it! Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA results 1. Stefano Mesa (Mor) 2. Nick McFadden (Mor) 3. Max Flinders (Mor) 4. E Orozco (Mor) 5. Xavier Zayat (Mor)
Rising Sun Cycles/GPTech Moto3 results 1. Jake Lewis (Apr) 2. Nobi Iso (Apr) 3. Nicholas Hansen (Hon) 4. Nick McFadden (Mor) 5. Eric Frazier (Hon) 6. Xavier Zayat (Hon)
About USGPRU The USGPRU is the officially recognized Motorcycle 125 Grand Prix National Championship, 250 Grand Prix National Championship TM series, and Moriwaki MD250H youth racing series.
The USGPRU emulates true World MotoGP racing experience and serves to attract young riders to gain experience in a professional environment and provide a path to world-class motorcycle racing. The USGPRU structures events with extended length grand prix racing exclusive to the GP machines, timed qualifying and strong contingency and sponsor support. For additional details, visit www.USGPRU.net
More, from a press release issued by FOGI Racing:
USGPRU Pilot 125GP Things were not looking promising for FOGI rider Nick Hansen, after limited seat time due to mechanical problems with the FOGI 125 machine. Having to learn the track and chassis setup were a steep learning curve. With fast action Scott Young pulled the bike together and Hansen did an amazing job qualifying 4th amongst the 28 rider field, and rode an amazing race finishing in the last podium position. Nick stated ‘without the quick work from Scott Young, I would not have even made the race. There were alot of things that were not certain about the setup, but we made some educated guesses and the bike performed beautifully’
USGPRU Moto Liberty RS Taichi 250GP Ben Young #136 headed into the second round of the USGPRU season with good confidence of being able to bid for the win, with his second place qualifying time being within reach of round one winner Long. Young knew it was going to be a challenge to finish on the top of the podium, and due to a mechanical problem was not able to contest for the win and was handed a 4th place finish. James Hillis – ‘Due to the mechanical issue that developed in the race our bike was really lacking on the top speed that it had in qualifying. I’m very proud that Ben rode as hard as he did, some how he managed to better his race pace over the qualifying time with almost 8mph less top speed.’
USGPRU GP Tech Moto3 Nick Hansen being unable to keep up with the Veloce Aprilia 125s took the FOGI RS125 machine to a third place finish, rounding out the last spot on the podium. The Moto3 class is a mix of 125GP, 450 singles, and Moriwaki 250cc machines.