Gerloff and Roberts Win Big at Jennings GP Jennings, FL The USGPRU racers headed south this weekend to kick off the 2009 season for the eastern region of the series. Despite the threat of rain on Sunday, the weather cooperated and treated us all to three days of nearly perfect 80 degree Florida sunshine. Sunday’s racing started off early with the Pilot 125GP event. Defending Champion, Nobi Iso started on pole position with Jake Lewis, Garrett Gerloff, and Hayden Gillim joining him on the front row. Gerloff used the superior torque of his Moriwaki MD250H to power off the line and led the field into turn one. Iso was able to knife by Red Bull Rookies Cup rider, Hayden Gillim, and set his sights on the leaders. Gerloff and Lewis were locked in a battle that saw Lewis motor down the straights while Gerloff powered off of the turns. The two teens swapped the lead several more times (each lap). On lap 7, Iso made his move to out-brake Lewis into turn 1 and then motored by Gerloff around turn 3. Unfortunately, the red flag was thrown soon after as Johnny Klaris crashed in turn 8. The results went back one lap and Gerloff was credited with the win, followed by Lewis, then Iso. The Moto-Libery/RS-Taichi 250GP race was led at the start by last year’s winner, Adam Roberts. His RAT Racing-built Yamaha TZ250 showed that it had some serious legs as it stretched out to a comfortable lead. He settled into a comfortable pace and was able to maintain a solid 8-second lead all the way to the finish line. Local favorite, Steve Wenner, got held up early in the race, but once he broke through the pack, he was able to nearly match Roberts’s times, but the margin was too large already. The big battle was for third place as Melissa Paris held off the advances of Mike Aboyoun and Al Campbell. On the final lap, Campbell charged hard, but to no avail as he pushed too deep and ran off in turn 2. Paris was struggling with her Honda RS250, but was able to defend her lines and claimed the final podium position, just ahead of Aboyoun. Last, but certainly not least, the Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race was up. Eight bikes took to the grid with Garrett Gerloff starting on pole, followed by Jake Lewis, newcomer Stefano Mesa, and Hayden Gillim. Lewis led into turn one, followed by Mesa and Gerloff. Hayden Gillim and Miles Thornton snapped into line and the five riders started to dice for the lead. On lap 2, Gerloff drafted by Lewis and Mesa only to be passed right back by Mesa in the final turn. As this battle wore on, Lewis, Thornton and Gillim started to fade back, leaving only Gerloff and Mesa to duke it out to the end. Mesa seemed to have track knowledge as he dominated the twisty sections. But on the final lap, Gerloff got a great drive coming out of the last turn and passed Mesa at the line. The USGPRU would like to thank the CCS Florida crew for allowing us to join them this past weekend. We all really enjoyed the weekend. Full results as follows: Pilot 125GP: 1. Garrett Gerloff (Mor) 2. Jake Lewis (Hon) 3. Nobi Iso (Apr) 4. Hayden Gillim (Hon) 5. Steve Wenner (Hon) 6. Stefano Mesa (Hon) 7. Scott Coccoli (Hon) 8. Austin Medrano (Hon) 9. Jason Mortimer (Hon) 10. Nick Hansen (Hon) 11. Adam Loeffler (Hon) 12. Jake Quick (Hon) 13. Mikey Lainhart (Hon) 14. David Celento (Hon) 15. William Phillips (Yam) 16. JP Bartlett (Hon) 17. Morten Frederiksen (Hon) 18. John Milliron (Hon) 19. Tony Wang (Hon) 20. Ian Kuivinen (Hon) 21. John Klaris (Hon) Crashed out Moto-Liberty/RS-Taichi 250GP 1. Adam Roberts (Yam) 2. Steve Wenner (Hon) 3. Melissa Paris (Hon) 4. Mike Aboyoun (Hon) 5. Adam Loeffler (Hon) 6. Al Campbell (Yam) 7. Jim Bergey (Hon) 8. Miles Thornton (Yam) 9. DJ Jackson (Yam) 10. Angus Borland (Yam) 11. Jake Quick (Hon) 12. Karl Loeffler (Yam) 13. Mikey Lainhart (Hon) 14. Tony Wang (Hon) 15. Erik Moore (Yam) Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA 1. Garrett Gerloff 2. Stefano Mesa 3. Jake Lewis 4. Hayden Gillim 5. Miles Thornton 6. Nick Hansen 7. Max Flinders 8. Mikey Lainhart