USGPRU Riders Swarm Firebird East
The USGPRU landed in Arizona last weekend to race with Road Race Southwest at Firebird East. Temperatures reached 94 degrees on race day, but the USGPRU racers kept their cool to put on a great show.
The Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA got off to a great start as usual with Ryan Matter leading current champion Jake Lewis for the first lap with Lex Hartl, Rocky Morales, and Andre Ochs all in close formation. Pole winner Lewis was able to regain the lead on lap two. He began pushing harder and opened a one-second gap on second place, Ryan Matter. With the lead two riders pushing each other so hard, it was easy to overlook a terrific three-way battle for third place. Hartl led Morales and Ochs until Morales made his move on lap four. Hartl applied pressure till the end showing a wheel here and there but it was Morales who held on for a spot on the podium. Back up front, the final few laps saw Matter closing in on Lewis. With only two turns remaining, he passed Lewis only to have Lewis get a better drive out of the last turn and snuck by him at the line for the win.
The Pilot 125GP was a barnburner event. Pole-sitter Jake Lewis was joined on the front row with Ryan Matter, Michael Martin and Peter Lenz. Lenz got the hole-shot with Lewis and Joe Roberts charging hard. The end of lap one would see those three starting to gap the rest of the field as they were nose to tail. With three laps in, Lewis had a huge scare for himself and the fans as he nearly lost it in turn 10. That bobble forced Roberts to check up a little as Lewis rejoined in third. That gave Lenz a gap that would never be closed as he went on to claim the checkered flag. Lewis, after his bobble, was able to close on Roberts as they battled to the end, but Robert’s strong performance was enough for second place. Cameron Gish and Matter rode a terrific race as they swapped positions several times for fourth with Matter crossing the line just in front of Gish.
In the Moto-Liberty/RS-Taichi 250GP race, pole-winner Melissa Paris grabbed the hole-shot with her Pirelli shod 250 over Vince Rolleri, Peter Lenz, Joe Roberts and Kevin Winter. Paris made a small but critical mistake on the backside of the track that allowed Rolleri to take the lead. Paris’ mistake was early in the race and she was able to make up the distance to Rolleri just past the halfway mark. Rolleri soon found himself in a struggle to stay in front of Paris. Her strong point was braking and turn entry, but his TZ250 had a more potent motor and he was able to hold the lead to the checkered flag. Lenz cruised to a third place finish with Roberts placing fourth and Lex Hartl making a last lap pass to round out the top five.
The USGPRU would like to thank Jack, John, Randy, Heidi, Karen, and the rest of the CCS / Road Race Southwest team for another great weekend. Also thanks to Al, John and Kory Hjelm for helping on the sidelines. This weekend wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the 2009 USGPRU National Series sponsors: MotoLiberty, RS Taichi, Pilot, RoadracingWorld.com, Rising Sun Cycles, Motion Pro, REV’IT, Bridgestone Tires, Dunlop Tires, EBC Brakes, GP Tech, Powerstands, Chicken Hawk Tire Warmers, Hjelm Motorsports, Pirelli Tires, Michelin Tires, and Starlane by Yoyodyne.
Full Results: Pilot 125GP Race 1. Peter Lenz (Hon) 2. Joe Roberts (Hon) 3. Jake Lewis (Hon) 4. Ryan Matter (Hon) 5. Cameron Gish (Hon) 6. Lex Hartl (Hon) 7. Mikey Martin (Hon) 8. Rocky Morales (Hon) 9. Andrew Artola (Hon) 10. Andre Ochs (Hon)
Moriwaki MD250H Race 1. Jake Lewis (Mor) 2. Ryan Matter (Mor) 3. Rocky Morales (Mor) 4. Lex Hartl (Mor) 5. Andre Ochs (Mor)
MotoLiberty / RS Taichi 250GP Race 1. Vince Rolleri (Yam) 2. Melissa Paris (Hon) 3. Peter Lenz (Hon) 4. Joe Roberts (Hon) 5. Lex Hartl (Hon) 6. Kevin Winter (Yam) 7. Andre Ochs (Hon) 8. Tony Digati (Yam) 9. Andrew Artola (Yam)
More, from a press release issued by R-Tech Racing Fuel:
R-Tech powered Lenz wins three in Phoenix
(Woodinville, WA) – 11-year old Peter Lenz took his R-Tech Racing Fuel powered 1996 Honda RS125 to three wins in competition this past weekend at Firebird.
Lenz was able to leverage the power provided by his R110 fueled machine to take wins in CCS SW’s 125GP, and Lightweight GP, he also placed a respectable 3rd in the USGPRU 250GP race on his 125. The highlight of Lenz’s weekend however was when he won the USGPRU 125GP national race.
While Lenz’s bikes are 13 years old, by using R-Tech’s R110 his BigB Racing built non A-Kit machine was able to deliver top performance. A post race dyno run at EDR Performance in Portland showed the bike put out a solid 43.81 horsepower.
Lenz currently leads both the UGPRU 125GP and 250GP West coast region championships.
To find out more about R-Tech Racing Fuel or locate a dealer near you visit: ~http://www.r-techracingfuel.com~
To find out more about R-Tech Racing Fuel support rider Peter Lenz visit: ~http://www.peterlenz.com~