Summit Point, WV. – The first round of the USGPRU Northeast region took place at the classic Summit Point main circuit. The newly formed ASRA series hosted the event and 40+ USGPRU racers joined them for a great weekend in the West Virginia countryside. Scott Smallwood threw down the gauntlet by setting the best time in 125GP qualifying of 1:22.421 despite the slightly cool track temperatures. A mere tenth of a second behind him was the current points leader, Alex Welsh. John Hjelm claimed third position at only a tenth of a second behind Alex. The top eight qualifying positions were less than a second off of the leader’s time. Brian Surtees aboard his Yamaha TZ250 dominated the 250GP qualifying. Alex Welsh rode his Honda RS250 to a second place position, but at almost a full second behind Surtees. Fellow Canadian, Matt Cooper pulled out all the stops to finish in third. As predicted, the 125GP race was extremely close with 22 riders all trying to squeeze through turn one all at the same time. Alex Welsh popped out first and put his head down and started pressing his advantage. Unfortunately, the rest of the pack wasn’t as lucky as a pair of crashes involving four riders, two turns, and one red flag meant that this 14-lap race was going to start all over. On the restart, series President, Stewart Aitken-Cade, nailed the start and went from 7th on the grid to 3rd behind Welsh and Smallwood. That didn’t last long as Mike Orien rode his Bellinger tuned missile past and was quickly followed by Todd Puckett. The six-rider battle for the lead raged on for the first four laps until Aitken-Cade’s motor expired and was forced to watch the rest of the race. Welsh and Smallwood put a small gap on Orien and Puckett to make a pair of excellent battles for the crowd to choose from. On lap 9, Welsh was sitting comfortably behind Smallwood when he hit a patch of oil-dry left from an earlier incident and crashed going into the very high speed turn one. This handed Smallwood his first win of the season. Orien and Puckett slashed and hacked at each other until lapped traffic separated them and Orien couldn’t close back up on Puckett. The 250GP race was an absolute blow out as Canadian, Alex Welsh, got the hole-shot into turn one and never looked back. Brian Surtees had a bit of trouble at the start but rode the wheels off of his Yamaha to nearly only 2 seconds off the leader. Welsh’s crew indicated this and he was able to dial up the pace and keep the separation for the full race. Matt Cooper rode a lonely race to finish third ahead of Jeff Federici. Novice Sam Clark rode an amazing race aboard a brand new RS125 to finish 5th. 125GP Race results: 1. Scott Smallwood (Hon RS125) 2. Todd Puckett (Hon RS125) 3. Mike Orien (Hon RS125) 4. John Hjelm (Hon RS125) 5. Steve Gorrell (Hon RS125) 6. Steve Scott (Yam TZ125) 7. Chris Pyles (Hon RS125) 8. John Klaras (Hon RS125) 9. Glen Pison (Hon RS125) 10. Merle Eschman (Hon RS125) 11. Richard Kjar (Hon RS125) 12. Kent Moffitt (Hon RS125) 13. Sam Clark (Hon RS125) 14. Chris Vest (Hon RS125) 15. Josh Steinberg (Hon RS125) 16. Brian Burton (Hon RS125) 17. Mark Dennis (Hon RS125) 18. William Doran (Hon RS125) 19. Marcus Matthews (Hon RS125) 20. Steven Belknap (Hon RS125) 21. Alex Welsh (Hon RS125) DNF 22. Stu Aitken-Cade (Hon RS125) DNF 250GP Race results: 1. Alex Welsh (Hon RS250) 2. Brian Surtees (Yam TZ250) 3. Matt Cooper (Hon RS250) 4. Jeff Federici (Yam TZ250) 5. Sam Clark (Hon RS125) 6. Mike Aboyoun (Hon RS250) 7. Jerry Berkey (Hon RS250) 8. Josh Steinberg (Yam TZ125) 9. Andre Esser (Yam TZ250) 10. Joe Melchionda (Yam TZ250) DNF 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 ~http://www.USGPRU.net~ More, from a press release issued by Infinity GP Racing: Infinity GP Racing had mixed race results in West Virginia this last weekend contending the 125 and 250 GP classes of the USGPRU South Eastern Series. Alex Welsh, turned in a 1st place finish in the 250GP class, and an unfortunate DNF in the 125GP class. The 125 class saw Alex holeshot the field in a mad dash for position, leading a couple of laps before falling off the pace a bit and getting passed by his now famous rival Scott Smallwood. The two of them jockeyed position for a few turns while Alex eventually settled in behind Smallwood to follow his lines and check for passing position for later in the race. Smallwood, a very talented rider, held the lead for the remainder of the race with Alex losing his front end going into turn 1 passing thru some “oil dry” which was in the turn. Upon asking Alex he had the following to say: “The dust was coming up off of Smallwoods rear tire every time I followed him thru the corner for like 6 laps, and I had no traction problems with the oil dry, but this last time, beginning lap 9, the front just tucked on me, and that was it”. Smallwood went on to take an uncontested and well deserved 1st place finish. In the 250 GP class, Alex again took the holeshot with no real threat from any rider throughout the entire race. He rode a comfortable quick spirited race with no real pressure put on him. It was a good turn out of riders and bikes and the USGPRU guys are thanked for their efforts.