TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (October 7, 2008) “” The USGPRU headed out to Miller Motorsports Park for the final round of the 2008 season. The racers were challenged with miserable weather as the rain fell all day and temperatures hovered in the mid 50s. The Moto Liberty 250GP event was the first race of the day. The Canadian super-kid, Royce McLean claimed pole position in the rain soaked qualifying session. He was clearly out-gunned at the start of the race as Melissa Paris rocketed out into the lead. She had Al Campbell, Vince Rolleri, Adam Roberts, Miles Thornton, and McLean in tow. Campbell passed her early on and started to stretch out his lead over the pack. As the laps clicked on, the rest of the field felt out the traction on the surface, their times got faster and they started to pull Campbell back in. Rolleri and Roberts started to fade back, leaving a four-way charge for the lead. McLean seemed to have the fastest bike, but couldn’t get safely around the bigger bikes. Paris closed the gap to Campbell by lap 4, and passed him when he over-shot turn 5. Thornton also passed Campbell and showed Paris a wheel on several turns. The battle came down to the last lap as Paris fought off all of Thornton’s advances to hold on to claim the win. She is also credited as the first woman to ever win a USGPRU 250GP race! On the final lap, Campbell put in the fastest lap of the race at 3:30.799 sec and charged past Thornton to clinch his best ever finish. The Moriwaki MD250H championship was the closest of all three USGPRU classes with only 4 points separating Miles Thornton from the points leader Jake Lewis. Tension was high between these two young racers as they both knew that the race finish order would equate to the championship results. But it was clear very soon after the green flag dropped that one rider was going to put on a clinic in rain racing. Jake Lewis led the race from the start and proceeded to crank out laps that were easily 2-seconds a lap faster than his closest competition, Thornton. He finished well out front with a 30-second lead. Miles Thornton rode strong, but just wasn’t as comfortable in the rain as his friend Jake. Thornton had his hands full though as the recently crowned Red Bull Rookies Cup Champion, Benny Solis was trying his hand at four-stroke racing. Benny was slow at the start, but quickly learned the bike, and reeled in Thornton. The two racers were never more than a bike length apart from then on, but Solis was able to hedge out Thornton for the second spot. The Rising Sun Cycles 125GP event looked to be a great battle between Jake Lewis and Royce McLean. But on lap 2, Lewis crashed out leaving McLean clearly in command of the race. Nobi Iso and Miles Thornton fought over second place the entire race, but again Thornton was forced to settle for third as he just couldn’t overcome the power of the veteran racer Iso’s Aprilia All three National Championships were up for grabs this weekend. But the bottom line was that all three points leaders coming into the weekend were also the points leaders at the end of the weekend. The winner of the Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA Championship was Jake Lewis. The defending Champion in the Rising Sun Cycle 125GP, Nobi Iso, won again for 2008. And finally, Adam Roberts came down from Nova Scotia to win the Moto Liberty 250GP Championship. Full race results are as follows: Moto Liberty 250GP race results 1. Melissa Paris (Hon) 2. Al Campbell (Yam) 3. Miles Thornton (Yam) 4. Royce McLean (Yam) 5. Adam Roberts (Yam) 6. Patrick Dowd (Yam) 7. Vincent Rolleri (Yam) 8. Mike Aboyoun (Hon) 9. Tony Baker (Yam) 10. Angus Borland (Yam) 11. Jeff Pratt (Hon) 12. Don Roberts (Yam) 13. Daniel Qualtire (Yam) 14. David Matthews (Yam) 15. Kevin Winter (Hon) 16. Frank Diranna (Yam) 17. Anthony Digati (Yam) 18. Michael Danielson (Yam) 19. Paul Hoyt Nelson (Hon) Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race results 1. Jake Lewis (Mor) 2. Benny Solis (Mor) 3. Miles Thornton (Mor) 4. Garrett Gerloff (Mor) 5. Andre Ochs (Mor) Rising Sun Cycle 125GP race results 1. Royce McLean (Yam) 2. Nobi Iso (Hon) 3. Miles Thornton (Hon) 4. Chase Vivion (Hon) 5. John Hjelm (Hon) 6. Lloyd Worrell (Hon) 7. Garrett Gerloff (Hon) 8. Charles Boyd (Hon) 9. Matt Elder (Hon) 10. Shellie Matthews (Hon) 11. Wayne Bishop (Hon) 12. Devon McDonough (Hon) 13. Don Roberts (Yam) 14. Paul Hoyt Nelson (Hon) 15. Andre Ochs (Hon) 16. Jake Lewis (Hon) 17. Michael Caravatta (Hon) About USGPRU The USGPRU is the officially recognized Motorcycle 125 Grand Prix National Championship ® and 250 Grand Prix National ChampionshipÔ series. We are also the official race series for the new youth-only, spec class racing the Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA. 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 Adam Roberts’ publicist: ROBERTS IS NATIONAL USGPRU 250GP CHAMPION Halifax, NS, Canada The RAT Racing/Pro Cycle Yamaha team is proud to announce that Adam Roberts has won the 2008 USGPRU 250GP National Championship following the season ending round last weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Roberts, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, went into the final round with a lead in the championship point standings. Only needing to finish the Miller race to secure the number one plate, Roberts rode his TZ250 to a comfortable and safe fifth place. “The race itself went pretty good,” stated Roberts. “It’s always hard in that position, because as a racer, you always want to be at the front of the field. The pace was pretty fast, but I think I could have been in contention for a race win, however I was really trying to hold back and ride smart to get the championship wrapped up.” The National championship was a sweet victory for the Canadian team, and admittedly was unexpected heading into the season. “I can’t begin to express how happy I am about this year. We started off, not knowing really where we would stand, and I basically had aimed for a top 5 in the championship,” continued Roberts. “For us to win the 250cc championship in our very first year is monumental.” “Of course we went through some tough times with some teething problems that can sometimes be associated with a new team, new bike, and new series. We knew from the start that this would be a learning year, but we finished every USGPRU race that we entered, proving that consistency would be a huge part of this year’s success. It’s an incredible accomplishment for us, and I really can’t say thank you enough to everyone who’s helped me out this year. It’s been a dream come true for me.” The RAT crew will be back in 2009 to defend the number one plate with plans to put together an even better package. Roberts would like to thank the following for making his success on the racetrack possible: Remote Access Technology (RAT), Pro Cycle, and Kimpex.