Odenton, MD. The USGPRU made one last stop at the scenic Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT, where Utah SBA played host for the 2007 Final West Region round.
The Rising Sun Cycles 125GP qualifying saw Nobi Iso circulating Miller’s East Course with a blistering 1:38.180 lap. Tyler Odom was the second fastest 125GP pilot followed by young Canadian sensation Royce McClean. Robert Johnston and local favorite Don Roberts rounded out the top five.
250GP action saw the battle of the brothers as Kyle and Ryan Ferris fought for pole. It was, however, younger brother Kyle who stole the position from 250GP points leader Ryan. After Kyle had destroyed the motor on a bike borrowed from his brother, he jumped aboard Bruce Lind’s TZ250 and with only a handful of laps on the bike set a pole winning time of 1:37.891. Qualifying was interrupted by a red flag as the pole winner himself high-sided when the gearbox locked up after damage from a previous crash earlier in the day. Ryan was 0.9 seconds off the fast time with Mark ‘Bigman’ Kelly, Tyler Odom and Vince Rolleri rounding out the top five 250GP racers.
Veteran Nobi Iso took off on the start of the Rising Sun Cycles 125GP race and never looked back. Tyler Odom found enough speed in his RS125 machine to make it a race for the win but just couldn’t match Iso’s Veloce Aprilia. The real race was for 3rd as fan favorite Royce McClean and Jon Schendel swapped positions multiple times per lap. Schendel, riding a Bruce Lind TZ125, started from the back of the grid after failing to report to tech inspection following his accident in qualifying. That battle came to an abrupt end as Schendel’s chain had enough and retired with a mechanical. McClean, at just 12 years old, recovered from being 5 seconds down to Odom to 1.7 seconds behind on the white flag lap and was gaining quickly. McClean came up .002 seconds short of beating Odom. Robert Johnston, Don Roberts and Shellie Matthews rounded out the field.
Kyle Ferris, on pole and on a bike he only had about 10 laps on, completely botched the start of the 250gp race and was dead last to turn one. That bobble proved to be no problem as he caught up to the lead bikes of brother Ryan and Vince Rolleri. Ryan and Vince were nose to tail swapping the lead several times. Then on lap 6, Ryan with a mission to win the 250gp National Championship, had enough and started to open his lead. Lil’ Ferris, Kyle, was also able to get around Rolleri and stayed on Ryan’s wheel to the checkered flag. Mark ‘Bigman’ Kelly was able to hold off relative USGPRU newcomer Dylan Olsen for fourth. Ryan’s win is his 5th of the year and he is undefeated in the West.
Series rookie Benny Solis, Jr. had the Rising Sun Cycles 125GP West Region Championship wrapped up with 204 points after his finish in Portland last month. Iso’s win at Miller moved him to second in the standings and Odom moved past Schendel into third. RoadracingWorld.com’s Elena Myers finished the season in fifth.
The 250GP West Region Champion is Ryan Ferris with a perfect season and 250 points. Vince Rolleri finished his season in second. Kyle Ferris moved up into third, pushing Schendel and Odom back to fourth and fifth respectively to round out the 2007 250gp season.
The USGPRU would like to thank the wonderful folks at Miller Motorsports Park and the Utah SBA. Round 6 of the USGPRU East Region is this weekend at Road Atlanta, where the Rising Sun Cycles 125gp will be in conjunction with the AMA Superbike weekend.
Rising Sun 125GP Results
1. Nobi Iso 2. Tyler Odom 3. Royce McLean 4. Robert Johnston 5. Don Roberts 6. Shellie Matthews DNF Jon Schendel
250GP Results
1. Ryan Ferris 2. Kyle Ferris 3. Vincent Rolleri 4. Mark Kelly 5. Dylan Olsen 6. Patrick Down 7. Sean Wray 8. Jon Schendel 9. Dale Murphy 10. Mike Lytle 11. Michael Rajotte 12. Don Roberts 13. Michael Danielson 14. David Matthews DNF Royce McLean DNF Tyler Odom DNS David Gallant DNS Shellie Matthews DNS Thomas Di Nardo
125GP Top Five West Region Standings
Benny Solis, Jr. 204 Nobi Iso 140 Tyler Odom 132 Jon Schendel 130 Elena Myers 98
250gp Top Five West Region Standings
Ryan Ferris 250 Vincent Rolleri 166 Kyle Ferris 116 Jon Schendel 96 Tyler Odom 65