Iso, Rolleri and Matter Win at Miller
Lewis and Rolleri Win West Region Championships
The Utah Sport Bike Association and Miller Motorsports Park welcomed the USGPRU for the final round of the Western Region Championship.
The Pilot 125GP race gridded up with Garrett Gerloff on pole, Nobi Iso, Jake Lewis and Cameron Gish completing the front row. Gerloff, riding his Danny Turner modified Moriwaki MD250H, shot off the line at the start and led the field into turn one. Using his superior torque, Gerloff gapped Iso by almost two seconds by lap two. Iso settled into a rhythm and slowly clawed his way back to the leader. Joe Roberts got a great start and catapulted himself into third but that was short lived as Lewis made the pass look easy.
By lap five, Iso had hunted down Gerloff for the lead and made a pass going into turn twelve but wasn’t able to make it stick and ran wide. Three laps later, he attempted the same maneuver, but this time he made the pass stick. The veteran Veloce Racing Aprilia pilot, Iso, matched the youngster, Gerloff, move for move and showed him the way to the checkered flag, winning by 0.241 seconds. Lewis cruised home in third followed by Ryan Matter in fourth. The battle for fifth intensified late in the race with an ever improving Andre Ochs and Roberts. Roberts and Ochs traded positions multiple times with four laps to go with Ochs just snagging fifth at the line.
Jake Lewis won the USGPRU Pilot 125GP West Region Championship in dominating fashion with Ryan Matter, Joe Roberts, Cameron Gish and Lex Hartl completing the top five spots. Lewis is leading the National Championship chase, just 31 points ahead of Garrett Carter. Iso, the 2008 champion, is still in the hunt as well with a long-shot chance being 45 points down on Lewis.
In the Moto Liberty/RS Taichi 250GP race, Western Region Championship leader Vincent Rolleri put on another dominating performance by leading the race from flag to flag. The Indy USGP Wild Card rider, Ben Young, qualified second, and had a solid run in second place for most of the race. All the while, a battle for third ensued between Cameron Gish and Miles Thornton. Thornton, Young’s Indy USGP teammate, was recovering from a poor start and was steadily moving up. Gish was applying pressure to Thornton throughout the race as the two were constantly trading positions. With only 2 laps left, Thornton and Gish drew closer to Young. Thornton closed the gap to Young and passed him on the last lap to claim second. Young and Gish finished third and fourth respectively.
Vince Rolleri won the USGPRU Moto Liberty/RS Taichi 250GP West Region Championship for the second year in a row. He still has a mathematical chance at the National title with 2 rounds remaining. Joe Roberts, Peter Lenz, Kevin Winter and Andrew Artola complete the top five.
The always exciting Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race started off with Nick Hansen on pole, with Gerloff, Matter and Lewis on the front row. Gerloff nailed the start and led into turn one. Gerloff, Hansen and Matter tore off and left the rest of the field behind. On lap four, Gerloff left the door wide open, and Hansen jumped on the opportunity and passed him heading into the ‘Attitudes’ corner. Hansen began to gap the second place battle by about a second a lap.
Matter and Gerloff had an epic race for second as there was never more than a bike length separating the two racers. With three laps to go, Matter made his move and passed Gerloff for second. Then Gerloff retaliated and passed Matter on the next lap. Matter, looking to regroup, made his final pass on the last lap and held on to second place by just 0.361 seconds.
During post race inspection, dyno results provided by Matt Spencer of Proformance Dyno Tuning with Salt Lake Motorsports, it was determined that Hansen’s Moriwaki horsepower had exceeded 105% of average horsepower output of the top five bikes. During a mandatory engine tear down and inspection, it was discovered that his cam was not stock, resulting in automatic disqualification, 25% of season points penalty, and 25% of season class earnings fine. The Moriwaki MD250H series is a spec series that explicitly prohibits performance modifications to the motorcycle.
The results after post race inspection awarded the win to Ryan Matter, his first win of the 2009 USGPRU season. All other participants also moved up in their finishing order.
Jake Lewis won the USGPRU Moriwaki MD250H West Region Championship. Matter, Lex Hartl, Ochs and Gerloff complete the top five. Lewis is also leading the National Championship chase, with Gerloff, and Matter within striking distance.
The USGPRU would like to thank Miller Motorsports Park for providing a world-class facility. And a big thank you to Don Roberts, Jill Giles, Lance Lee and the rest of the USBA crew for hosting another fine weekend.
Pilot 125GP Race Results 1. Nobi Iso (Apr) 2. Garrett Gerloff (Mor) 3. Jake Lewis (Hon) 4. Ryan Matter (Hon) 5. Andre Ochs (Hon) 6. Joe Roberts (Hon) 7. Nick Hansen (Hon) 8. Conor Matthews (Hon) 9. Don Roberts (Yam) 10. Phillip Krenn (Hon) 11. David Matthews (Hon) 12. Michael Lainhart (Hon) 13. Grayson Gerloff (Hon) 14. Cameron Gish (Hon) 15. Andrew Artola (Hon) (crash)
MotoLiberty / RS Taichi 250GP Race Results 1. Vincent Rolleri (Yam) 2. Miles Thornton (Apr) 3. Ben Young (Apr) 4. Cameron Gish (Hon) 5. Al Campbell (Yam) 6. David Matthews (Yam) 7. Don Roberts (Yam) 8. Michael Lainhart (Hon) 9. Daniel Qualtire (Yam) 10. Kevin Winter (Yam) 11. Anthony Digati (Yam)
Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA Race Results 1. Ryan Matter (Mor) 2. Garrett Gerloff (Mor) 3. Jake Lewis (Mor) 4. Andre Ochs (Mor) 5. Grayson Gerloff (Mor) 6. Conor Matthews (Mor) DQ Nick Hansen (Mor)
GPTech/Pilot F450 1. Nick Hansen (Hon)
Pilot 125GP West Region Championship (top 5) 1. Jake Lewis (217 points) 2. Ryan Matter (148 points) 3. Joe Roberts (136 points) 4. Cameron Gish (113 points) 5. Lex Hartl (96 points)
MotoLiberty / RS Taichi 250GP West Region Championship (top 5) 1. Vincent Rolleri (193 points) 2. Joe Roberts (106 points) 3. Peter Lenz (80 points) 4. Kevin Winter (66 points) 5. Andrew Artola (65 points)
Moriwaki by Honda MD250H West Region Championship (top 5) 1. Jake Lewis (237 points) 2. Ryan Matter (205 points) 3. Lex Hartl (150 points) 4. Andre Ochs (92 points) 5. Garrett Gerloff (71 points)
For a full listing of the West Region Championship final standings, go to http://www.usgpru.net/standings.php
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