GLEN HELEN USGP SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE

Have you ever heard dirt referred to as chocolate cake? You have now.

Story and photos by John Basher

    It’s a mostly overcast morning here at Glen Helen Raceway outside of San Bernardino, California. Unusually cool weather and cloud cover has made for an incredibly prepared track. The European faithful took to the track at 9:30 this morning in an effort to learn the massive jumps and tricky sand section. The quickest lap time that I’ve heard so far has been a 2:43, logged by none other than Antonio Cairoli. There’s a great level of disparity in speed between the top guys (Antonio Cairoli, Max Nagl, Clement Desalle) on down to the lower 30. Having said that, evidenced from practice I expect there to be some great battles at the front.

Christian Craig looks to be the top American in the MX1 class. Time will tell.

    First things first – hardly any American riders took the opportunity to use Glen Helen as a warm-up for the Nationals, and it’s a shame. Needless to say, it’s hard to have an answer for the European when they ask where the American riders are. By now you’ve heard that South Point Casino is offering a $100,000 prize for any U.S. rider that wins the MX1 (450) class. No one took the bait and made a last minute decision to go after the bounty. If you ask me there shouldn’t be a money incentive for American racers to show up and stretch their motocross legs. What more incentive does a rider need than to wax the Euros and claim victory on home turf? Money rules the world, but just this weekend I’d like to see the likes of Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey and the rest of the U.S. brigade line up against Europe’s best.

Regardless of your affiliation with the sport, you know who Antonio Cairoli is. He was pinning it in practice.

    I applaud the Americans that did decide to race. Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs riders Christian Craig (MX1) and Travis Baker (MX2) are here, as are Sean Borkenhagen, Weston Peick, Dennis Stapleton, Caleb Gosselaar, and a few other boys of the stars and stripes. And, no, Mike Alessi is not here. He’s still recovering from the effects of a concussion. It’s time to get off my soap box.


Ken Roczen floats a whip over the second jump of the triple step-up.

    Since the opening practice isn’t officially timed, I’ll just say that in the MX2 class the KTM trio of Ken Roczen, Jeffrey Herlings and Marvin Musquin are flying. Musquin looks great in what will be his first race back since tearing his ACL at the off-season Bercy Supercross. “Movin Marv” is sporting the number one plate, as he’s the defending champ. After this weekend the number one plate will go back into hibernation, as Marvin is contesting the 250 Nationals. Also looking great in practice were CLS Kawasaki teammates Max Anstie and Tommy Searle. American Zach Osborne is aiming for the win. Wouldn’t it be something if Zach won on home soil?

Italy’s David Philippaerts takes a look over his shoulder.

    In the MX1 class the usual suspects were flying. It took the tentative riders a few laps to size up the massive triple step-up section, which is actually comprised of two jumps. While the U.S. riders immediately went out and attacked the track, the Euros studied lines and obstacle lengths before laying wood.

You probably remember Clement Desalle from his second place finish last year at Unadilla.

    Things start to heat up later today when the MX1 and MX2 class goes through pre-qualifying practice (for qualifying gate selection), followed by the first moto of the Vet race (the second moto will be held tomorrow morning), and finally the MX1 and MX2 qualifying races (each are 20 minutes plus two laps). Stay tuned as we keep you up on the action here at Glen Helen.  

Germany’s Max Nagl.

Zach Osborne takes a trip down the stair steps.

Max Anstie.