USGPRU West Coast Round 3 Results Iso and Morton Beat the Heat Odenton, MD–The USGPRU powered by AlwaysOnline.net held the third West Coast regional event at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California this past Saturday. Run in conjunction with the AFM, the USGPRU fit practice, qualifying, and both 125GP and 250GP events into one day under a relentless triple-digit heat wave. Jon Schendel of Lake Elsinore, California took pole position in 125GP qualifying on a borrowed Honda owing to a mechanical failure on his Yamaha. Filling out the front row behind Schendel were Will Gruy of Dallas Texas, (an up and coming GP jockey for 2005), Nobi Iso of Japan, and long time AFMers Michael Jarrard and Carlos Neves. 24 of the 26 qualifiers beat the heat to make the grid. Neves took the holeshot off the line at the start to be passed by Iso going into Turn 1. A first lap red-flag was caused by a crash in Turn 6 by Ben Solis. Schendel also went down in Turn 13 on the first lap. Schendel managed to return for the restart but Tony Bell’s RS125 ridden by Solis did not. The restart of the 125GP was nearly a carbon copy of the first with Nobi Iso checking out with an immediate lead on his Aprilia RSV125R separating himself from the rest of the field with a comfortable 3 second lead, oblivious to the raging battle going on behind him. While Iso ran a perfect race, Gruy, Neves, and Jarrard slugged it out for positions testing their skills and nerve with late braking, Gonzo inside and outside passes, and drafting down the front straight. The heat took its toll on riders causing some to retire early and others to suffer heat exhaustion after the event. Tommy Aquino ran a good race against Erik Dadej while Dadej struggled with a broken silencer on his Honda. Iso took the checkered flag followed by Gruy and Neves. The 250GP was like a dream for former World GP tuner Roland Cushway. Three riders Cushway personally attended to waged war on each other for the lead and eventually all took a place on the podium. Jeff Hanford led off with Will Morton, John Davis, Phil Torres, Vincent Rolleri, and Sean Case in tow. As with the 125GP event, these 6 riders made enough passes on each other to keep all spectators deeply engaged. John Fosgate, under contract with the USGPRU to announce for the event added extra excitement to the tight racing. “These guys are literally beating the daylights out of each other!” he shouted. Hanford led for the first lap. Morton got by him to take the lead on the second lap, only to be chased down and passed by Davis on the fourth lap. Nobi Iso on a 2002 TZ250 fell back to 30th place with a horrible start, and spent the rest of his race making multi-bike passes to ultimately finish 7th. The USGPRU would like to thank Kevin Smith, the AFM staff, and the AFM corner workers for hosting the event this weekend. The USGPRU hopes that this weekend was as memorable for the AFM as we look toward next years’ calendar. 125GP Results 1 Nobi Iso Apr RSV125R 2 Will Gruy Hon RS125 3 Carlos Neves Hon RS125 4 Michael Jarrard Yam TZ125 5 Jonathan Schendel Hon RS125 6 Tommy Aquino Hon RS125 7 Erik Dadej Hon RS125 8 Jay Pilster Hon RS125 9 Steve Magri Hon RS125 10 Jeffrey Lim Hon RS125 11 Phillip Krenn Hon RS125 12 Debra Kuick Hon RS125 13 Michael Orien Hon RS125 14 James Eckerman Hon RS125 15 Nathan Coy Hon RS125 9 Laps 16 Bryce Prince Hon RS125 9 Laps 17 Herbert Wagner Hon RS125 9 Laps 18 Marcus Henderson Hon RS125 6 laps 19 Ryan Corey Hon RS125 DNF 20 Tiffanie Ragasa Hon RS125 DNF 21 Ryan Ferris Yam TZ125 DNF 22 Tyler Reiswig Hon RS125 DNF 23 Ben Solis Hon RS125 DNF 24 Mark Goodrich Hon RS125 DNF 250GP 1 William Morton Hon RS250 2 John Davis Yam TZ250 3 Jeffry Hanford Hon RS250 4 Phillip Torres Yam TZ250 5 Sean Case Hon RS250 6 Vincent Rolleri Yam TZ250 7 Nobi Iso Yam TZ250 8 Tyler Reiswig Hon RS125 9 Erik Dadej Hon RS125 10 Richard Denman Hon RS250 11 Jay Pilster Hon RS125 12 Johathan Schendel Hon RS125 13 Alex White Yam TZ250 14 Ty Piz Yam TZ250 15 Clif Jordan Apr RS250 16 Mark Lelchook Hon RS250 17 Brian Lowe UNKOWN 18 Joe Rust Apr RS250 19 Bob Drury Hon RS250 9 Laps 20 Andrew Edwards Apr RSV250R 9 Laps 21 Herb Wagner Yam TZ250 9 Laps 22 Andrew Duafala Yam TZ250 7 Laps 23 Mike Lytle Yam TZ250 6 Laps 24 Joji Tokumoto Yam TZ250 6 Laps 25 Richard Reynolds Yam TZ250 5 Laps 26 Gary Tritt Yam TZ250 DNF 27 Philip Snowden Yam TZ250 DNF