UtahSBA: Norton Wins Again in Utah at USBA Round Two
After a snow-affected Round One on May 4th, the Utah Sport Bike Association (UtahSBA) redeemed itself on Memorial Day weekend with a complete Round Two of the Utah Motorcycle Law Masters of the Mountains race series. Back to the fast and flowing UMC West configuration, there were mixed conditions on Saturday but perfect dry weather for the big races on Sunday.
Friday evening featured a track walk with longtime USBA member, the one and only Shane Turpin, who is one of the few members of the UMC West 1:29 club. We think all racers that attended the track walk set personal best lap times this weekend. Thanks, Shane!
Saturday started out raining with the first practice sessions declared wet. King of the Mountain (KOM) qualifying was declared dry, but a drying track made things interesting. The fastest guys didn’t seem phased, putting down some strong laps to set the KOM grid:
Anthony Norton 1:30.5
Brian Childree 1:32.9
Michael Bradshaw 1:33.1
USBA’s intro to racing “Street GP” program, with 10 riders this time, finished just in time before the next drenching rainstorm resulting in more wet races in the early afternoon.
Dry conditions were again declared for Race One of Novice GTO by Outlaw Garage. We wanted to see which of our novice racers have gotten good at changing their wheels under time pressure. A race-long battle for the top five positions resulted in the final order of Kohl Burmester, Daniel Christiani, Brian Cassel, Richard Umplby, and Adam Decario.
Formula 40 is one of UtahSBA’s most competitive classes. New UtahSBA competitor Reid Edwards, from Seattle, took the win in GTO over Chris Mousley in second and Alex Zinaich in third. In the GTU division, Kory Cowan left the second wave GTU field behind and quickly caught up to the GTO riders, easily winning GTU and ending up fifth overall.
Sunday’s action started early with Norton putting in a 1:29.7 lap in Open Superbike, joining Turpin and a few others in the exclusive UMC West 1:29 club.
Perfect conditions for the KOM race finally – 63 degrees and sunny. Defending KOM Champion Norton starting from pole position, most recent KOM race winner Brian Childree started second, UtahSBA veteran Michael Bradshaw started third.
Norton got a blazing holeshot, Childree got away second, and Bradshaw was third off the line. This group immediately gapped the rest of the field. Norton started to pull away with a 1:29.7 on lap two, and Childree and Bradshaw were the race to watch for second and third. In the middle phase of the race, Norton built the gap up to eight seconds, then went into management mode, relaxing his pace to 1:31s. Bradshaw showed Childree a wheel several times in the remaining laps but ultimately settled for third. The final top seven KOM finishing order was Norton, Childree, Bradshaw, Wyatt Ferguson, Chris Mousley, Steven Marco, then Josh Fisher – on a 600!
Norton had this to say: “Round One was highly anticipated being back on the East Course thanks to the Roadracing World Action Fund and the addition of Airfence for UMC… But I’ve had a bone to pick on the West track since last season and I couldn’t wait for this weekend! Long story short, my bike was on rails and the TrackStar Performance Dunlops were working amazing! Winning the Burt Brothers KOM race was great, but for me the highlight was breaking into the 1:29s this weekend and adding my name to the short list of people who have done that! Gotta thank Precision Fab Machinery for their support this year that helps keep me and my program laser sharp. Looking forward to the rest of the Utah Motorcycle Law USBA season!”
In a gesture that didn’t surprise anyone, Michael Bradshaw donated his purse money to the Roadracing World Action Fund for more Airfence. Thanks, Mike!
Another highlight of the weekend was having Stefano Mesa present. Some USBA racers even had the privilege of racing him in Open Twins where the top 5 finishing order was Stefano Mesa, Nolan Kiiskila, Matheus Gomes, Brian Larrabure, Brandon Morgan.
After a banger of a Race Two in Novice GTO presented by Outlaw Garage, the overall purse positions were: Kohl Burmester, Daniel Christiani, Brian Cassel, Richard Umpleby and Tyler Gulden.
It takes a village to put on these events. We have so many people to thank:
UMC outstanding facility and staff
USBA Board
USBA Volunteers
USBA Sponsors
Racers’ friends and family
Roadracing World Action Fund
There are three more UtahSBA rounds at Utah Motorsports Campus this year, each preceded by a Friday Apex Track Days track day, making for a full three-day event. We’d love to see you here, Utah in general is great and UMC is a gem of a track.
Round 3 July 5-7 UMC West
Round 4 August 2-4 UMC East
Round 5 Sept 13-15 UMC West
