For years there’s been an outcry amongst Southern California MX followers for a return of the Glen Helen National. Some day, it would occur, however for now, regulars know that come spring, there’s a mini National each Thursday on the iconic San Bernardino observe. Glen Helen nonetheless offers an important testing component for just about each motocross crew. Even the groups which are primarily based within the Southeast make common journeys there as a result of the situations of an actual race are arduous to duplicate elsewhere.
This yr, Troy Lee and Bud Feldkamp determined to take a random Thursday in May and make it legit. They lined up the riders–who’re there anyway–for a low-key two-moto race and put up $10,000 in prize cash. It made for an excellent preseason warm-up with actual gate drops and bar-to-bar racing.
Not the entire Thursday regulars needed to line up. Riders like Jason Anderson, Jo Shimoda, Cameron McAdoo and Seth Hammaker have been there, however elected to look at from the sidelines. They have been there for their very own testing and even the $4000 money prize for first place couldn’t tempt them to line up in opposition to a full gate. For the riders in decrease tax brackets, the prize cash was loads of incentive.
When the gate for moto one dropped, there have been some attention-grabbing riders in entrance. BarX Suzuki rider Derek Drake and Pierce Brown have been proper up entrance. Brown was really contending for the holeshot on his Troy Lee GasGas MC250F Factory Edition in opposition to a full gate of 450s. So was his teammate Ryder DiFrancisco and Red Bull KTM’s Julien Beaumer. Eventually Brown established himself in entrance and the 450s had nothing for him. Ryder DiFrancisco completed in second and Pro Circuit take a look at rider Broc Tickle completed third. In the second race, Brown and Drake each went down early. Up entrance it was all Tickle. DiFrancisco held second till late within the moto when Beaumer handed him. His 2-3 rating was nonetheless adequate for second total behind Tickle.
Will the Stopwatch National change into the true season opener for the professional motocross season every year? There’s no telling. As it’s, whenever you mix Supercross, professional motocross and SMX, the season is already so lengthy that most professional groups are struggling to be at each spherical. But, as Bud and Troy knew moving into, they have already got Glen Helen within the plan. The solely distinction is now there’s a payout.
- BROC TICKLE 3/1
- RYDER DIFRANCESCO 2/3
- JULIAN BEAUMER 5/ 2
- DANTE OLIVEIRA 4/6
- MARSHAL WELTIN 6/5
- DEREK KELLEY14/4
- PARKER ROSS 12/7
- CJ BENARD 10/10
- MATEO OLIVEIRA 13/8
- ROMAIN PAPE 9/13
- ROBBIE WAGEMAN 17/9
- JOSH MOSIMAN16/11
- BROCK BENNETT19/12
- REVEN GORDON18/14
- PIERCE BROWN 1/31
- COLE MARTINEZ 8/27
- JAXON PASCAL 20/16
- DAYTON BRIGGS 7/30
- CAMERON HORNER 21/17
20. KYLE EPPERSON 27/18