Wild rides and wild weather for USGPRU racers at Heartland Park! The USGPRU Eastern region headed west this weekend to race with the ASRA at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas. The mid-western weather this time of year meant that racers had to keep both rains and slicks at the ready as thunderstorms were more of a probability than just a possibility. The Moriwaki MD250H race started the action with a challenge to the young racers. The early morning typhoon-like weather made for a wet but rapidly drying track. Half of the racers chose slicks and the rest went with full rains. It was obvious by the end of the first lap that the slicks were the right choice as Hayden Gillim, Garrett Gerloff, and Nick Hansen all broke away from the pack. Gillim put his head down and never looked back and proceeded to lead every lap of the race. Gerloff finished second with Hansen claiming his highest finish of the season in third. The Pilot 125GP race was looking to be a close one as season-long rivals Nobi Iso and Garrett Gerloff lined up on the front row to do battle with each other once again. Ben Young rejoined the series this weekend after recovering from an early season injury. He was looking very strong in qualifying and was definitely the wild-card on the front row of the grid. Gerloff shot off the line on his Danny Turner prepped hot rod Moriwaki MD250H. Nobi Iso on his Veloce Racing Aprilia RSW125 was hot on his heels followed closely by Ben Young on his RAT Racing Honda 125GP bike. On lap 2, Iso dropped back dramatically as his lower fairing came loose and started to drag in the turns. He faded back and left Ben Young to hold up the 2-stroke honor and chase down the 4-stroke of Gerloff out front. But the Honda powered Moriwaki was just too much for Young, and Gerloff went on to win another Pilot 125GP race this season. Young took second place, and was joined on the podium by M4 Suzuki’s Kris Turner. Gerloff also set a new class record for this track at 1:48.758. The Moto Liberty / RS-Taichi 250GP race was looking to be another slug-fest between last year’s 250GP champion, Adam Roberts, and Melissa Paris. She was coming off of her recent World Superbike ride, and had a few new tricks she wanted to teach Roberts. Adam got a great start and led the first lap, but Melissa was right on his rear wheel and not about to let go. By lap 4, she had found a way past Roberts and started to throw down some really fast laps. Roberts gave it all he had, but was unable to meet the challenge and resigned himself to second place. Miles Thornton rode hard, holding off Angus Borland and Kris Turner to capture the final podium position. The USGPRU would like to thank the ASRA and CCS for allowing us to come out and race with them this weekend. Thanks as well to Mike Casey at Heartland Park for the warm invitation to the fine facility. Special thanks to Hector and Greg for helping to “pick up the pieces.” Full results are as follows: Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA: 1. Hayden Gillim (MOR) 2. Garrett Gerloff (MOR) 3. Nick Hansen (MOR) 4. Grayson Gerloff (MOR) 5. Max Flinders (MOR) 6. Sam Carey (MOR) Pilot 125GP: 1. Garrett Gerloff (MOR) 2. Ben Young (Hon) 3. Kris Turner (Hon) 4. Hayden Gillim (MOR) 5. Nobi Iso (Apr) 6. Nick Hansen (Hon) 7. Austin Medrano (Hon) 8. John Hjelm (Hon) 9. Eric Frazier (Hon) 10. Mikey Lainhart (Hon) 11. Grayson Gerloff (Hon) 12. Paul Nelson (Hon) 13. Sam Carey (MOR) Moto Liberty / RS-Taichi 250GP: 1. Melissa Paris (Hon) 2. Adam Roberts (Yam) 3. Miles Thornton (Yam) 4. Angus Borland (Yam) 5. Kris Turner (MOR) 6. Bruce Lind (Yam) 7. Kory Gill (Yam) 8. Brian Born (Yam) 9. Jim Bergey (Hon) 10. Paul Capps (Yam) 11. Paul Nelson (Hon) 12. Mikey Lainhart (Hon) 13. Mike Aboyoun (Hon) 14. Adrian Jasso (Yam) 15. Jeff Pratt (Yam)