USGPRU East Round 1 Jacobsen and Welsh Take Kansas by Storm! ODENTON, MD Fifty-seven USGPRU racers traveled to Topeka Kansas (nearly doubling the state’s population) this weekend for the first round of the eastern region championship. The CCS/ASRA series hosted the USGPRU at the newly renovated Heartland Park Raceway. Saturday morning qualifying for the 125GP class saw 27 riders line up to vie for the podium spot. The bar was set early on with defending 125 National Champion PJ Jacobsen, ripping off a 1:51.614 lap. Nobi Iso was the next closest qualifying at almost a full 2 seconds back. Hayden Gillim and Scott Smallwood charged on to claim the remaining spots on the front row. The 250GP qualifying was equally tense as the Canadians Eddy Brunett and Alex Welsh duked it out for the top spot. Eddy rode his Honda RS250 to set the best lap of 1:49.590 with defending 250GP National Champ, Welsh close behind him. PJ Jacobsen and his teammate Mark ‘Bigman’ Kelly rounded off the front row on their Celtic Racing machines. Sunday morning the riders were greeted by hundreds of spectators lining the stands around the 2.5 mile track. They all wanted to see some great racing, and the USGPRU and ASRA racers did not disappoint. The 125GP event favorite was clearly the 13-year-old champion, PJ Jacobsen. He nailed the start and led the field into turn one. At the end of the first lap, Nobi Iso on his Spiros and Orr tuned Aprilia RS125 motored past the youngster across the starting line. But PJ wouldn’t give up and tucked a little harder and chased down the wily veteran. On lap four Jacobsen re-passed Iso for the lead, and kept his head down and started clicking out fast laps. Iso tried to hang on but couldn’t keep pace. Meanwhile Kris Turner and Hayden Gillim were having a battle of their own for third place. Their fight didn’t slow them down either as by lap 9, they had actually reeled in Iso and both riders made the pass. Iso dug deep, and gave his Aprilia a kick in the tail. He charged hard and the three-way battle for second place was on. Iso charged back past both youngsters (whose combined ages still were less than his age) to reclaim the second spot. Young Hayden Gillim hung in to claim a fourth place finish. Iso was able to hold off Redbull Rookie Cup contender Turner for another lap to claim second. All the while, PJ had stretched his lead to almost 8 seconds over the rest of the field to take the win and the lion’s share of the purse. The 250GP race started out where the qualifying left off with Brunett and Welsh in a dead lock for the lead. But that only lasted about 3 laps before Welsh started to stretch his Honda’s legs and started to slowly put a gap between him and Brunett. The battle for third place was a bit closer as former AMA 250 contender Chris Pyles had his hands full with the young PJ Jacobsen. Chris clearly had a major horsepower advantage, but PJ kept chipping away at him and finally wore Chris down and made a pass stick with only 2 laps to go. While this battle raged on, Welsh managed to put almost 14 seconds between his bike and Brunett. Welsh easily won the race and took his share of the purse back to Canada with him. The USGPRU would like to thank the staff of the CCS/ASRA for allowing us to join them this past weekend. We’d also like to thank Heartland Park for such a wonderful facility. We all really enjoyed the weekend. The next round of the USGPRU Western Region is to be held at the Streets of Willow, 5-6 May. The next Eastern Region event will be over Memorial Day weekend at the always popular Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. Come on out and watch some of the stars of tomorrow as they learn the art of Grand Prix racing! 125 GP Results: 1. Patrick Jacobsen 2. Nobi Iso 3. Kris Turner 4. Hayden Gillim 5. Mike Orien 6. Aaron Risinger 7. Tom Swager 8. Leon Cortes 9. Miles Thornton 10. Federico Cortes 11. Robert Johnson 12. David Celento 13. John R Klaras 14. Scott Thompson 15. Tony Wang 16. Hector St. John 17. Allen Campbell 18. Brian McLaughlin 19. Tomas Bohm 20. Brandon Kovach 21. Merle Eschman 22. Scott Smallwood 23. Rebecca Henn 24. Marcus Matthews DNS John Hjelm DNS Jeff Chen 250 GP Results: 1. Alex Welsh 2. Eddy Brunet 3. Patrick Jacobsen 4. Chris Pyles 5. Sean Wray 6. Kris Turner 7. Daniele Lenarduzzi 8. Patrick Dowd 9. Mark Kelly 10. Bruce Lind 11. Chris Quillman 12. Dale Murphy 13. Aaron Risinger 14. Mark Stiles 15. Tom Swager 16. Chris Manfrin 17. Allen Campbell 18. Tony Wang 19. Kory Gill 20. Jim Bergey 21. Daniel Qualtire 22. Michael Rajotte 23. Aaron Stein 24. Leon Cortes 25. Brandon Kovach 26. Michael Danielson About USGPRU The USGPRU is the officially recognized Motorcycle 125 Grand Prix National Championship ® and 250 Grand Prix National Championship TM 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 RMKR: Pueblo Motorsports Park, Pueblo, CO The Rocky Mountain Kawasaki Race Team’s first race weekend with the Motorcycle Roadracing Association went very well with multiple podium finishes. In the premier class, Race of the Rockies GTU, Ricky Orlando and Pedro Bravo, team mates, aboard Dunlop shod Kawasaki ZX6R’s were disputing second place for most of the race. On lap twelve Orlando got inside Bravo exiting turn one and made it stick. Making it a mostly RMK occupidied podium. Orlando commented that after working together on preparing for the weekend, it was ironic to be battling with your team mate. Jon Glaefke aboard a Kawasaki EX650 also spent his time on the box with a second place in Lightweight Gran Prix and Super Twins GTO. A third place in Super Twins GTU rounded out Glaefke weekend. Orlando also worked his way up from a last row start to finish third in the Middleweight Supersport class. More, from a press release issued by MotoSix Motorsports: MotoSix Wins Big at MRA Season Opener Team Riders Aaron Clark and Dave Gallant of MotoSix Motorsports won big in Colorado this past weekend at Pueblo Motorsports Park. Under sunny skies in hot conditions, Aaron Clark drew first blood in the early morning Open Supersport class riding a Fay Myers 2007 Suzuki GSXR 1000. Riding a stock motorcycle fitted with GP Suspension Components, Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa DOT tires, and Leo Vince exhaust, Aaron took the hole shot and led every lap of the morning race. Aaron quickly followed that performance by gridding up on his MotoSix 2006 Suzuki GSXR 1000 superbike for Open Superbike, and once again leading the field every lap for the win. To complete his hat trick for the weekend, Clarkie won the Race of the Rockies unlimited event gapping the whole field over the entire 14 lap race making his bid for the number one plate clear to the entire region. “Setup is crucial for our bumpy Colorado tracks, and is totally different than for our tracks in Nebraska or Utah. I really want to thank Dave Rose of Single Track Mind for his suspension support this weekend. We took a relatively stock Suzuki GSXR 1000 and got it working almost as good as my fully developed 2006 Suzuki GSXR 1000 superbike in just a few days time. The difference in handling from how I rolled it off the trailer on Friday to how it is today is amazing. Between the amazing power of the new Suzuki GSXR 1000, the GP suspension, and the new Pirelli DOT tire, I had a hard time believing I was on a Supersport bike because the whole package was so good. Overall, I am pleased with the data we collected this weekend and how well we already stack up against the stiff competition here in Colorado, and really look forward to the Hastings round where we can really let the new GSXR chassis show what it has got” commented Clarkie about his weekend. Riding a newly developed 2007 Suzuki GSXR 750, Dave Gallant of MotoSix Motorsports was able to bring home one win and one close second place finish over the weekend of racing. Dave’s win came on Saturday afternoon during the Expert Heavyweight Endurance race and saw Dave swapping the lead with a previous season’s class championship winner throughout the entire endurace race. Dave Gallant and the talented class champion broke away from the field immediately, and by mid-race distance had lapped well into the first wave of liter bike competition. With 3 laps to go, Dave made his move and held onto for the win at the line. Saturday’s race foretold of Sunday’s Heavyweight Supersport sprint race action. Dave Gallant and the same rider broke away from the field early, but could not break each other’s draft. Lap after lap both rider’s tested each other pleasing the crowd and the announcers alike. At the white flag Dave Gallant was in second place, but only inches off the tail of the lead rider. Dave made his calculated move in turn two, but missed a shift and couldn’t make the pass stick. At the line Dave Gallant was a few feet short of the win and brought home a strong second place finish. “I have very little time on these Suzuki GSXR 750s, but I really love the chassis on these new generation bikes. Like Aaron, without Dave Rose of www.FixMyBike.com I would not have been fighting for the win this weekend in the Heavyweight Supersport class. That race also made it very clear just how much better my Pirello Diablo Supercorsa DOTs are over the competition. I could get on the gas so much earlier in a few key corners that these tires are almost an unfair advantage. Although second place isn’t good enough, I am pleased with how quickly we were able to get the bike up to speed and am confident we can do the same in the next few weekends” commented Dave Gallant. MotoSix riders Aaron Clark and Dave Gallant will compete next at the double header round of the MRA series at Hastings Motorsports Park on May 26th, 27th, and 28th. More, from a press release issued by Foothills Racing: The MRA held its first race of the 2007 season at Pueblo Motorsports Race Track this last weekend in Colorado. AND WE HAVE GREAT NEWS! Due to class regulations (which the MRA was not willing to flex) the BMW Motorrad/Foothills BMW 2007 R1200S was placed in the Supertwins GTO class up against the Ducati 1098S, 999R, 998R and the Aprilia Mille (all 150+ hp machines). There was also a Ducati 749 in the race piloted by the #1 plate holder, since his 999R had blown an engine. Brad Hendry, on the #616 BMW R 1200 S started at the back of the pack (position 8) having not run in the class last year. At the end of the first lap he had passed a couple of the slower guys and was up to 6th position….all good riders in front of him. He then began to pick away positions, one by one. First, the Ducati 749, then on the next lap, a 999R. The total race was 7 laps and in each lap Brad managed to pass a competitive rider. The front group of six guys were pretty close together, and when Brad was finished with them he had passed two Ducati 999Rs, an Aprilia Mille, and a Ducati 749 to place himself in a strong second. On the white flag lap Brad passed the first rider on a Ducati 1098S, three corners before the finish line and held him off to take the checkered flag! This was a great close race and the people in the stands were cheering each time he passed somebody. Brad comments “The greater horsepower competitive machines would pull away from the R1200S on the VERY long back and front straights, but the R1200S out-performed them in the infield.” Brad puts his success down to the superior braking of the R1200S particularly into the corners and then the great torque of the boxer engine on exiting the corner. Brad exclaimed at the end of the race “I love my BMW!” Needless to say the pits were buzzing with the fact that the heavier boxer had beaten the higher horsepower and heavily touted new Ducati 1098S! Also present at the race were 33 BMW riders that had joined the Foothills BMW Motorcycles sponsored ride down to Pueblo to witness the R1200S in it first competitive race here in Colorado”¦.. AND WHAT A WIN! To follow Brad’s progress on the awesome new R 1200 S, go to his Xplor page for more pictures and news on this years race season! (http://bmwxplor.com/riders/Racing616)